EMC earnings: Fourth quarter, 2010 outlook better than expected
EMC's fourth quarter closed strong as both earnings and revenue came in ahead of expectations. The company also raised its outlook for 2010.
The storage giant reported fourth quarter net income of $426.5 million, or 20 cents a share, on revenue of $4.1 billion, up 2 percent from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings in the fourth quarter were $695.5 million, or 33 cents a share.
Wall Street was expecting earnings of 30 cents a share on revenue of $4.02 billion. For 2009, EMC reported net income of $1.1 billion, or 55 cents a share, on revenue of $14 billion.
As for the outlook, EMC projected 2010 revenue of $16 billion, compared to Wall Street estimates of $15.45 billion. Net income for the year will be 78 cents a share and non-GAAP earnings will be $1.12 a share, a penny ahead of Wall Street estimates. EMC said its research and development spending in 2010 will be up 20 percent.
Overall, cost cutting, investments in areas like cloud computing, and a more positive outlook for IT spending have left EMC "stronger than ever financially," said EMC CEO Joe Tucci in a statement. EMC CFO David Goulden added that the company is "well positioned to continue to gain share."
EMC's results got a boost from VMware, which is majority owned by EMC. VMware delivered strong earnings and said customer spending was improving. Here's a breakdown of EMC's results by product line:
