Caldera tops estimates but loss widens

Caldera Systems posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its fourth quarter Wednesday, losing $6.9 million, or 18 cents a share, on sales of $1.2 million.

First Call Corp. consensus expected the maker of Linux-based Internet software to drop 22 cents a share in the quarter.

However, that loss was 53 percent higher than the year-ago quarter.

The $1.2 million in sales represents a 34 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it lost $4.5 million, or 17 cents a share, on sales of $874,000.

Operating expenses in the quarter ballooned from about $4,000 a year ago to nearly $10,000.

"Increases in the global sales of existing products and services indicate the rising demand for -- and confidence in -- Caldera OpenLinux products and services," said CEO Ransom Love in a prepared release. "As we continue to focus our efforts on the successful integration with the two SCO divisions, we expect tremendous synergies to emerge from Linux and UNIX technologies."

For the fiscal year, it dropped $39.2 million, or $1.19 a share, on sales of $4.3 million compared to a loss of $9.4 million, or 51 cents a share, on sales of $3.1 million in fiscal 1999.

The stock was unchanged at $2 a share shortly after the earnings report, well below its all-time high of $33 established in March.

Last quarter, Caldera beat the Street when it posted a loss of $7.5 million, or 19 cents a share, on sales of $1.2 million.

Both analysts following the stock rate it a "hold."

Analysts are expecting a loss of 90 cents a share in fiscal 2001.