Intuit Profit Rises; Novell, CA Post Loss
Intuit Inc., maker of the Quicken line of personal finance software, reported a better-than-expected 53% increase in earnings, giving its shares a boost in after-hours trading.
Meanwhile, Novell Inc., whose computer operating-system software competes with Microsoft Corp., reported a second-quarter loss and said that it would cut 5% of its work force as part of a bid to return to profitability by year-end.
Novell also said it expects results to fall short of estimates for the third and fourth quarters, citing the slowdown in the Internet sector and declining information technology spending.
Also, Computer Associates International Inc. reported a loss for its fiscal fourth quarter as sales fell because of a change in the way it books revenue.
Intuit said its operating profit grew to $118.4 million, or 55 cents a share, 2 cents better than the consensus forecast of analysts. Revenue grew 29% to $425.2 million, landing on the low end of a range the company gave earlier this year amid a “challenging” economic environment.
Shares of Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit, which had closed 47 cents lower at $31.15 on Nasdaq, rose to about $34 on Instinet on the after-hours earnings announcement.
Novell, which first made its mark providing software for network servers but has shifted to consulting and other Internet services, said it lost $151 million, or 48 cents a share, in its fiscal second quarter, including a one-time charge of $142 million, compared with earnings of $31 million, or 9 cents, a year ago.
Excluding the charge, Novell lost 3 cents a share, in line with analyst forecasts. Revenue dropped 20% to $241 million.
Shares of Provo, Utah-based Novell closed up 10 cents at $5.01 on Nasdaq but fell in after-hours trading to $4.65 on the news.
Computer Associates, which makes software that runs mainframe computers, reported a loss of $410 million, or 71 cents a share, for the quarter ended March 31, compared with net income of $392 million, or 70 cents, a year ago. Revenue fell 39% to $733 million, the Islandia, N.Y.-based company said.
The company last year started asking customers to pay for its software through monthly service fees, instead of buying the products with one large upfront payment.
Computer Associates shares closed up $1.54 to $32.56 on the New York Stock Exchange before the results were announced.
VA Linux Systems Inc. said losses widened to $19 million, or 38 cents a share, for its fiscal third quarter, from $4.5 million or 13 cents, a year ago, as revenue fell 41% to $20.3 million.
Analysts had forecast a loss of 40 cents, after the company warned on April 26 that it expected a loss ranging from 39 cents to 41 cents, and revenue of $18 million to $20 million. Shares of VA Linux closed up 34 cents at $4.70 on Nasdaq.
