BMC boosts 3Q expectations

Raise your expectations for the third quarter of BMC Software (Nasdaq: BMCS).

After market close Wednesday, the vendor of mainframe and client-server business software said it now sees fiscal third quarter earnings of 20 to 22 cents per share, including a one-time gain of 2 cents and excluding special charges, on revenue of $375 million to $380 million.

Analyst consensus was predicting a profit of 16 cents per share on revenue of $359 million for BMC's December quarter, according to earnings tracking firm First Call.

Shares of BMC rose to 20.75 in afterhours activity on the Island electronic communications network, immediately following the preannouncement. BMC gained 2 to 15.625 in Wednesday's regular trading ahead of the news.

Wednesday's news comes as a pleasant surprise. BMC in October warned of a continued soft market for mainframe software.>