ACADEMIA
Sun's revenue increased 29 percent to $3.828 billion
Sun Microsystems reported results today for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30, 2006. Revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 were $3.828 billion, an increase of 29 percent as compared with $2.974 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005. Year over year revenue increase resulted from both acquisitions and increasing acceptance of the Solaris 10 Operating System, as well as recently introduced products. Computer Systems Products revenues increased 15% year over year, the second consecutive quarter of year over year revenue increase. Net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 on a GAAP basis was $301 million or a net loss of ($0.09) per share, as compared with net income of $50 million, or net income per share of $0.01, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005. GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 included: $86 million principally related to intangible asset amortization associated with recent acquisitions, $63 million of stock-based compensation charges relating to the adoption of SFAS 123R, $228 million of restructuring charges and an $8 million benefit for related tax effects, $70 million in impairment of acquisition- related intangible assets, $54 million in settlement income, and a $4 million loss on equity investments. In addition, we incurred a $58 million tax charge and $14 million reduction in other income due to a repatriation of foreign earnings. The net impact of these nine items was approximately ($0.13) per share. Cash generated from operations for the fourth quarter was $410 million and cash and marketable debt securities balance at the end of the quarter was $4.848 billion. "We're making excellent progress returning Sun to growth and profitability. Revenue, bookings and backlog are all up substantially -- indicating we're gaining traction, market confidence and share," said Jonathan Schwartz, CEO, Sun Microsystems. "Our position is steadily improving -- among a few highlights: the Solaris OS exceeded 5 million licenses in Q4, largely on Dell and HP servers, and on Sun. The Java platform continues to drive demand in the datacenter and on leading consumer devices. And by opening our UltraSPARC® platforms to Ubuntu Linux -- we're proving great products and customer choice matter." "Our total revenues grew by more than 20% sequentially in the June quarter, and this was the largest sequential growth from Q3 to Q4 since fiscal 2000. Our revenue growth was fairly broad-based from both a geographic and industry basis. In the former Sun standalone business, more than half of our 15 geographies had double-digit product revenue growth year over year. The company did an outstanding job remaining focused on the fundamentals, including shipping product, controlling inventory, and managing the overall cash conversion cycle. And, we're starting the new fiscal year with a healthy product backlog of over $1 billion," said Michael Lehman, chief financial officer and executive vice president, Corporate Resources, Sun Microsystems.