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Sun Microsystems has shocked Wall Street by posting a loss for its fiscal third quarter, with revenue declining by half a percentage point compared to the year ago quarter.
Analysts had expected Sun’s strength in international markets to see it ride out the current slowdown in the US. The company’s share price was punished in Friday trading, dropping nearly 20 per cent in a session.
Sun reported Q3 2008 revenue of US$3.266 billion (A$3.5 billion) compared with US$3.283 billion in the year-ago quarter.
The net loss for the quarter was US$34 million, compared to $67 million in Q3 2007.
“The US economy presented Sun with significant challenges in the third quarter, masking our progress in developing nations and economies across the world,” said Sun chief executive Jonathan Schwartz.
“With double digit year-over-year growth in India and Brazil, and triple digit billings year-over-year growth in our energy efficient, Solaris-based Chip Multi-Threading (CMT) systems, Sun made considerable progress during the quarter,” Mr Schwartz said.
“We continue to invest in the future created by open alternatives to proprietary technologies, best exemplified by the acquisition of MySQL. The world is moving to open source innovation, and Sun continues to lead that revolution”
Sun reported year-over-year revenue growth in 12 out of its 16 sales geographies during the quarter, with double-digit revenue growth in key international markets across EMEA, Asia Pacific and the International Americas.
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