Red Hat beats Street in Q2

Red Hat Inc. posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its second quarter Thursday, losing $1.9 million, or 1 cent a share, on sales of $18.5 million.

First Call Corp. consensus expected it to lose 2 cents a share in the quarter.

Red Hat shares closed up 1 1/8 to 25 1/4 ahead of the earnings report.

The $18.5 million in sales represents a 76 percent jump from the year-ago quarter when it lost $4.3 million, or 6 cents a share, on sales of $10.5 million. Full story. -- Larry Barrett, ZDNet Inter@ctive Investor