Red Hat Posts First Quarterly Profit

Red Hat Inc., the leading distributor of the Linux operating system--an alternative to Windows--reported earnings of $600,000, the first time the company has reported a profit.

For the quarter ended May 31, Red Hat said that adjusting for one-time items, it earned $600,000, or break-even per share, compared with a loss of $3.7 million, or 2 cents a share, a year earlier.

Wall Street analysts had expected Red Hat to break even, as it did the previous quarter, according to research firm First Call/Thomson Financial. Estimates ranged from a high of 1 cent a share to break-even.

Revenue rose 18% to $25.6 million compared with $21.7 million a year earlier but was down 5% from the previous quarter.

Shares of Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based Red Hat rose 39 cents to close at $4.75 and climbed to $4.97 in after-hours trading on Nasdaq.