Thursday October 26, 7:01 pm Eastern Time F5 reports 4th qtr that meets forecasts SEATTLE, Oct 26 (Reuters) - F5 Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:FFIV - news) reported fiscal fourth quarter net income of $3.7 million, or 16 cents a share, meeting forecasts behind strong sales of its core computer networking products and growing demand for its services.
In a statement, the Seattle-based company also said it expects revenue for the fiscal first quarter of 2001, ending December 31, of $41 million to $43 million earnings between 16 cents and 18 cents per diluted share.
For all of fiscal year 2001, ending Sept. 30, F5 targets $200 million in revenue with earnings of 85 cents to 90 cents per diluted share.
Revenues for the fourth quarter were $36.6 million, up 25 percent over the prior quarter and up 166 percent from the same quarter the year before.
Financial analysts had expected the company to report a profit of 16 cents a share in the quarter, according to investment research firm First Call/Thomson Financial.
F5 credited strong sales of its Internet traffic routing hardware for fiscal year 2000 earnings of $16 million, or 69 cents per diluted share, on revenue of $108.6 million -- a nearly four-fold increase from 1999 revenue of $27.8 million.
Finally, F5 said its board has authorised the company to buy back up to 1 million common shares of the company's stock, depending on market conditions.
F5 shares closed up $1-5/8 at $28-5/8 on Nasdaq market system. The news announcement came after the market closed. |