Brocade OK With 2001 Estimates

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. President Gregg Reyes said he is comfortable with consensus earnings estimates of 63 cents a share for the fiscal year ending October 2001, Barron’s reported in its Jan. 1 issue.

The San Jose-based maker of equipment designed to improve data storage in computer systems reported earnings of 28 cents a share for the year ended October 2000, adjusted for a stock split on Dec. 22.

Most analysts placed Brocade’s five-year average earnings growth rate at 50%, the newspaper said. The company has avoided the meltdown in technology stocks during 2000, gaining 107% during the year from 1999’s closing price of $44.25. The stock closed down $3.67 to close at $91.81 on Nasdaq on Friday.

“The truth is that no one, including us, really knows just how fast our market is growing,” Michael Byrd, Brocade’s financial vice president, told Barron’s.

Many of Brocade’s largest customers, including large personal computer makers, have issued earnings warnings.

Shebly Seyrafi, an analyst at A.G. Edwards, cut his 12-month price target for Brocade to $100, reflecting “a lower technology market and general economic concerns,” Barron’s reported.