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EMC jumps on strong 2Q report, outlook

Larry Dignan
2 min read

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) shares jumped 3 11/16 to 63 3/4, or 6 percent, after the company reported second quarter earnings of $289 million, or 27 cents a share, on record revenue of $1.29 billion.

First Call consensus was 24 cents a share.

Revenue for the quarter was up 36 percent from a year ago while earnings were up from the 18 cents a share reported a year ago.

And the company, a provider of enterprise data storage systems, sees more of the same. Shrugging off any possible spending slowdown tied to Year 2000 computer fears, EMC CEO Michael Ruettgers said he expects 1999 revenue growth to be around 35 percent -- up from its prior 30 percent outlook.

Software revenue soared 83 percent and systems revenue jumped 29 percent compared to the second quarter a year ago.

While EMC (chart) doesn't get the headlines like the high-flying Internet stocks, EMC has been among the best performers in the tech sector. The second quarter was the ninth consecutive quarter where EMC posted at least 30 percent year-to-year growth in both revenue and earnings.

The e-commerce/Internet boom is boosting EMC's business. The company said it added www.iShip.com, barnesandnoble.com (Nasdaq: BNBN), DrugEmporium.com, eToys Inc. (Nasdaq: ETYS), and Mail.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAIL) as customers in the quarter.

EMC is currently near a 52 week high of 67 7/16. Share closed at 60 1/16 on Tuesday. Nineteen analyst rate EMC at least a "buy" with 15 of them giving the stock a "strong buy" rating.

Reuters contributed to this report.