Red Hat Inc, the biggest US distributor of the Linux computer-operating system, had a wider fiscal fourth-quarter loss as sales fell, sending the shares down as much as 6.9 percent.
The loss for the period ended Feb. 28 was US$41.9 million, or US$0.25 a share, compared with a loss of US$24.2 million, or US$0.14, a year earlier. Sales fell 16 percent to US$18.6 million from US$22 million as the company failed to close some contracts, Chief Executive Matthew Szulik said in an interview.
Red Hat software sales have dropped as the company faces competition from Microsoft Corp and Sun Microsystems Inc.
Excluding costs related to acquisitions and stock-based compensation, the company said it would have earned US$1 million, or US$0.01 a share, matching the estimate of five analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call. Sales fell short of the US$22.3 million average estimate of analysts.
"I am a little puzzled they didn't show better results," said John McPeake, an analyst at Prudential Securities, who rates the stock "hold" and had expected sales of US$22.1 million.
Red Hat will earn US$0.04 to US$0.05, excluding costs related to acquisitions, on sales of US$100 million to US$101 million for the current year, Szulik said. The company expects to break even, excluding costs, in the current quarter, on sales of US$19 million to US$19.5 million. The loss from continuing operations last quarter was US$28.9 million, or US$0.16, a share.
Red Hat also said it added 10 large business customers in the quarter, including AOL Time Warner Inc, Dell Computer Corp and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. Linux is popular for running the server computers that anchor Web sites and corporate networks.
Still, the Linux operating system for servers is having a tougher time competing with Microsoft's Windows operating system than in past years. Linux failed to gain market share last year after being the fastest-growing server operating system in unit shipments in 2000, according to data from market researcher IDC.
Unit shipments of Linux remained at about 28 percent of all server operating system shipments last year, while Windows shipments grew from about 41 percent to about 46 percent, said IDC Analyst Dan Kusnetzky.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2