CSC misses 1Q expectations by 1 cent

Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC) reported a first quarter profit at the low end of its expected range announced last month, but a penny short of the consensus analyst estimate.

After market close Monday, the technology services provider reported fiscal first quarter earnings of $96 million, or 56 cents per share. CSC in June told analysts to expect a profit ranging between 56 and 58 cents per share.

First Call's survey of a dozen analysts predicted net income of 57 cents per share for CSC's quarter ended June 30. That figure was lowered from a previous estimate of 58 cents, prior to CSC's preannouncement in June.

First quarter revenue increased 11.8 percent year-over-year to $2.46 billion. CSC had told analysts to expect revenue ranging between 11 and 13 percent.

"As we indicated previously, the absence this year of the Year 2000-related revenue present during last year's first quarter, coupled with the pace of the rebound in enterprisewide application demand, had a moderating influence on our first quarter revenue growth rate," said Van B. Honeycutt, chairman, CEO and president of CSC. "This environment resulted in more limited growth in consulting and systems integration services as well as in the banking and insurance financial services markets."

Business has increased recently for CSC's enterprise resource planning business, including units for PeopleSoft (Nasdaq: PSFT), Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) and SAP (NYSE: SAP), Honeycutt said.

Commercial revenue in the first quarter rose 10 percent -- or 14 percent discounting the effects of currency fluctuations -- to $1.8 billion. Revenue from the U.S. government grew 17 percent to $647.8 million.

At the end of June, CSC saw about $28 billion in business opportunities tied to the federal government over the next 33 months, Honeycutt said. That figure is about 30 percent larger from the comparable period a year ago.

Shares of CSC inched down 1/32 to 62 5/16 in Monday's regular trading prior to the earnings report.>