Roundup: BMCS misses, Electronic Arts exceeds estimates
BMC Software (Nasdaq: BMCS) missed First Call estimates in the third quarter.
After market close Tuesday, the maker of client-server and mainframe management software reported fiscal third quarter net income of $105.6 million, or 41 cents per share, excluding writedowns and special charges. First Call's survey of 22 analysts predicted a profit of 42 cents per share.
Including amortization and non-recurring events, BMC earned $69.1 million, or 27 cents per share.
Shares of BMC slid below 43 in afterhours activity. The stock closed Tuesday's regular trading at 43 11/16, down 7/8 for the session.
Company executives blamed the earnings shortfall on currency movement, which slashed 2 cents per share off BMC's bottom line.
"During the third quarter, the company faced an unusual set of challenges -- some of which we believe were unique to this quarter and therefore behind us," said Max Watson, BMC's chairman, president and CEO.
Third quarter sales increased 24 percent year-over-year to $426.3 million. License revenue rose 20 percent during the quarter, led by international revenue growth of 22 percent. Under constant currency rates that correct for a rising U.S. dollar last year, BMC's international license revenue would have risen 32 percent and overall license revenue 27 percent, the company said.
Maintenance and services revenue improved 33 percent from the year ago period.
Total mainframe revenue grew 17 percent year-over-year, while distributed systems business grew 40 percent.
Among 28 analysts surveyed by Zack's Investment Research, 14 maintain the equivalent of "moderate buy" ratings on BMC, eight recommend it as a "strong buy", and six have "hold" advisories on the stock.
Other companies reporting quarterly results:
The game software vendor reported fiscal third quarter earnings of $93 million, or $1.38 per share. First Call's survey of 13 analysts predicted a profit of $1.34 per share.
Revenue rose 15 percent to $601 million from $520 million in the year ago period. PlayStation software sales rose 31 percent, while Nintendo 64 was flat.
North American business grew 21 percent, largely on the strength of NBA Live 2000, Tomorrow Never Dies, Knockout Kings 2000 and ongoing sales of Madden NFL 2000. International revenue gained 7 percent.
The company is pushing hard to have products ready for this year's launch of Sony's Playstation 2 console. Electronic Arts is also working on an America Online (NYSE: AOL) game service, scheduled to debut this summer.
The maker of cable and satellite network equipment and TV set-top boxes reported fiscal second quarter net income of $29.3 million, or 36 cents per share, excluding a one-time gain of $4 million from the sale of stock in WorldGate Communications (Nasdaq: WGAT). First Call's survey of 17 analysts predicted a profit of 33 cents per share.
Second quarter revenue rose 20 percent year-over-year to $372.7 million. Bookings grew to $463.8 million, a 60 percent improvement from a year earlier.
Also Tuesday, Scientific-Atlanta said Tuesday it signed a $100 million deal with cable television system operator Charter Communications (Nasdaq:CHTR) to supply optical equipment and digital cable TV set-top boxes.>