Veritas to miss earnings mark

By Martin LaMonica
Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: July 6, 2004 6:21 AM PDT

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Citing weakness in U.S. sales, Veritas warned Tuesday that its second-quarter earnings will come in lower than anticipated.

The company, which makes storage management software, announced that preliminary figures for the second quarter, which ended Wednesday, show that revenue will be in the range of $475 million to $485 million. Earnings for the period, excluding costs such as amortization, will be between 18 cents and 20 cents per share, the company said.

A consensus of analysts surveyed by First Call had expected earnings of 24 cents per share for the quarter. Revenue was expected to be about $500 million.

Veritas' stock price was down 24.6 percent to $20.02 on Tuesday morning, from $26.55 at the end of Friday. The company has scheduled an earnings call for July 27.

In a statement, Veritas CEO Gary Bloom said the earnings shortfall is due to poor sales to corporations in the United States. "At the end of the June quarter, our anticipated order flow weakened, contributing to lower-than-expected license revenues," Bloom said.

License revenue for the quarter will be between $263 million and $273 million. Bloom said services revenue remained strong at $212 million for the quarter.