Digital Island tops 4Q forecasts

Digital Island (Nasdaq: ISLD) cut losses more than analysts expected in the fourth quarter.

In fiscal fourth quarter results released after market close Wednesday, the network service provider posted a net loss of $22 million, or 62 cents per share. First Call's survey of three analysts predicted a loss of 66 cents per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

Fourth quarter revenue increased to $4.9 million, a 33 percent gain sequentially and 433 percent improvement year-over-year. During the quarter, Digital Island boosted its customer total by 37 percent to 111, said Ruann F. Ernst, president and CEO.

"This has been a tremendous period of growth for Digital Island and we are very excited about the market opportunity before us." Ernst said.

For the full fiscal 1999, Digital Island reported a loss of $50.9 million, or $1.70 per share, on revenue of $12.4 million.

Digital Island recently announced plans to issue about 27 million shares to buy Sandpiper Networks.

Shares of Digital Island rose 11 3/4 to 73 in Wednesday's regular trading prior to the quarterly report. Among four analysts polled by Zack's Investment Research, three maintain "strong buy" ratings on Digital Island and one has a "moderate buy" on the stock.>