Sun brightens up revenue picture

Adding its name to the list of good news financial reports in the high-tech sector, Sun Microsystems' fourth-quarter revenues hit a company record of $2.02 billion, while year-end revenues topped the $7 billion mark.

The supplier of workstations and network servers reported today that revenues were up 22 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Sun's net income came in at 85 cents per share, an all-time high for the company, excluding a one-time charge of $57.9 million associated with its acquisition of Lighthouse Design and Integrated Micro Products. The charge brought net income down to 62 cents per share for the fourth quarter, during which the company also enjoyed an operating margin of 11.9 percent.

For the full fiscal year, the company's earnings were up 34 percent over fiscal 1995 at $2.42 per share. Revenue increased 20 percent over the previous year at $7.095 billion.

Sun attributed the growth to corporate market's acceptance of its Ultra servers and UltraComputing workstations and, of course, the Java phenomenon. The company is now sitting on nearly $1 billion in cash.