StorageNetworks gains on 4Q results, marketing pact

StorageNetworks shares moved up $2, or 7 percent, to $29.94 Thursday after it topped estimates in its fourth quarter and announced a marketing alliance with Sun Microsystems and Exodus.

In the quarter, StorageNetworks (Nasdaq: STOR) posted a loss of $36 million, or 36 cents a share, on sales of $21.2 million.

First Call Corp. consensus pegged the computer data services firm for a loss of 44 cents a share on sales of $19.2 million in the quarter.

The $21.2 million in sales marks a 578 percent jump from the year-ago quarter when it lost $14 million, or 59 cents a share, on sales of $3.1 million.

On Thursday, the company announced that it will team up with Sun (Nasdaq: SUNW) and Exodus (Nasdaq: EXDS) to co-market managed storage services hosted on Exodus Internet data centers.

The data centers will be powered by StorageNetworks based on Sun Microsystems arrays, servers and software and will provide end-to-end storage services to customers.

For the fiscal year, StorageNetworks lost $124.9 million, or $2.12 a share, on sales of $48.2 million compared to a loss of $23.9 million, or 98 cents a share, on sales of $6.3 million in fiscal 1999.

Last quarter, the company topped analysts’ estimates when it posted a loss of 37 cents a share on sales of $14.3 million.

StorageNetworks shares moved up to an all-time high of $154.25 in July before crashing to a low of $16.50 earlier this month.

Ten of the 12 analysts following the stock maintain either a “buy” or “strong buy” recommendation.