Exabyte results on target

Exabyte Corp. (Nasdaq: EXBT) rose 4 percent Wednesday after it said net loss for its fouth quarter was 53 cents a share, right on target with First Call's consensus estimate.

Shares in the network storage company were up 5/16 to 8.

Revenue for the fourth quarter was $58.6 million, slightly less than the $63.2 million brought in the fourth quarter of 1998. Revenue for fiscal 1999 was $222.8 million compared to $286.5 million for 1998.

The net loss for the quarter was $11.9 million or 53 cents a share, compared to a loss of 24 cents a share a year ago. Exabyte lost 78 cents a share in the third quarter. Net loss for 1999 was $49.8 million, or $2.24 per share, wider than the loss of $2.13 a share predicted by First Call.

"After bottoming in the second quarter, Exabyte's revenues have now shown back-to-back sequential increases of nine and 11 percent in the past two quarters and were in line with the company's expectations,'' Bill Marriner, Exabyte's chairman, president, and CEO stated in a press release. He said the company was on track to returning the business to profitability.