CA’s Q2 earnings beat lowered estimates

NEW YORK: Enterprise software maker Computer Associates International Inc. on

Tuesday said fiscal second-quarter earnings, excluding acquisition charges, beat

Wall Street's previously lowered expectations but were 23 per cent below that of

last year.

For the quarter ended September 30, the Islandia, NY-based maker of software

that manages large company computer systems, said it earned $321 million or 54

cents a share, compared with $416 million, or 75 cents a share in the year-ago

period.

Analysts had expected the company to earn 52 cents for the quarter, according

to First Call/Thomson Financial.

Computer Associates said revenue was about $1.681 billion, compared with

$1.605 billion recorded in the second quarter of last year, about a 5 per cent

rise.

This was the second consecutive quarter that the company warned of an

earnings shortfall as clients awaited a new generation of International Business

Machines Corp.'s machines, and delayed spending on the software that runs on it.

After the warning, the consensus fell from 56 cents a share.

Shares of Computer Associates Monday closed up 1-1/16, or 4 per cent, to

$26-11/16 in regular New York Stock Exchange trading. The company's 52-week low

was $23-11/16 and its high $79-7/16.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.