EMC Reports Higher 4Q Sales, Profits

EMC Corp. today reported gains in fourth-quarter revenue and profits, the company's strongest quarterly financial performance ever. The storage vendor said revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 grew 21% over last year to reach $1.88 billion, while net income jumped 38% from the year-ago quarter to $377 million, excluding one-time charges. Taking into account $177 million in one-time expenses related to the acquisition of Data General, earnings were $207 million for the quarter.

For the year, the company said revenue was up 24% to $6.72 billion, while annual income rose 50% to $1.18 billion.

EMC CEO Mike Ruettgers noted the higher sales came despite the pullout of Hewlett-Packard, which had been the company's largest reseller. Last year, HP replaced EMC's offering with a Hitachi product. Ruettgers says the company expects to add another 4,000 jobs in the coming year, as revenue grows another estimated 25%. EMC plans to put less emphasis on sales through equipment manufacturers and more on selling direct to companies, including Internet-related spending by dot-coms and global 2000 companies. "The real focus is to take the product directly to customers," Ruettgers says.

Despite posting earnings per share of 34 cents, beating fourth-quarter analysts' consensus estimates by 3 cents, shares in EMC were trading down 6% at $112.75 late Wednesday afternoon.