DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Novell Inc.'s (NOVL) fiscal fourth-quarter net loss narrowed slightly on higher product revenue and margins, although services revenue fell.
Shares climbed 5.2% to $4.02 in after-hours trading from the Thursday close of $3.82 as the earnings met Wall Street's expectations.
Chief Executive Ron Hovsepian said the company has substantially completed a two-year transformation plan. "We have a large, recurring revenue stream; a strong balance sheet; expanding partnerships; and excellent products in broad and growing markets which we believe positions us well in this challenging environment," he said.
For the quarter that ended Oct. 31, the open-source software company reported a net loss of $16.3 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $17.9 million, or 5 cents a share.
The latest results included a $14 million write-down on the company's auction-rate securities. Excluding stock-compensation, acquisition-related costs and other items, earnings fell to 6 cents a share from 7 cents.
Revenue fell slightly to $244.7 million from $244.9 million.
Analysts' expectations were for earnings of 6 cents a share on revenue of $250 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
Gross margin rose to 76.4% from 73.6%.
Product revenue from open-source platform services rose 6.1%, offset by a 26% decline in services revenue.
Novell owns the Linux open-source operating system software, which allows users and developers to modify underlying computer code.
In October the company agreed to acquire business service management company Managed Objects to expand its portfolio of data-center technologies. The deal, for an undisclosed amount, is expected to close in the first quarter.
Novell is targeting an adjusted operating margin of no less than 10% in fiscal 2009.
In August, Novell extended a 2006 agreement with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) under which coupons are distributed to customers allowing them to run Linux products alongside Microsoft's proprietary programs - a move the highlights the growing importance of Linux software and open-source computing.
-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975; Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 04, 2008 16:50 ET (21:50 GMT)

Publié le 04 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones