EMC Corp.’s first-quarter profit dipped 14 percent on acquisition-related charges, but the data storage vendor managed to post a double-digit revenue gain amid a slow U.S. economy, beating Wall Street expectations.
Its shares rose more than 2 percent on morning trading.
Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC said Wednesday that net income fell to $268.8 million, or 13 cents per share in the three months ended March 31. That’s down from $312.6 million, or 15 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
The latest quarter’s performance was hurt by a $79 million non-cash charge to write off research and development operations from recent acquisitions. Without that charge and other one-time items including employee stock options costs, EMC’s profit was $477.3 million, or 23 cents per share.
Revenue rose 17 percent to $3.47 billion, beating the $3.45 billion consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Despite a lagging U.S. economy that threatens to slow technology spending, EMC posted 14 percent revenue growth in North America, which accounted for 57 percent of total company revenue. Overseas, where EMC has consistently posted stronger growth, the revenue gain was 21 percent.
EMC’s biggest business area, storage systems, posted a 10 percent revenue gain, with software license and maintenance revenue rising 18 percent. Revenue from a segment that includes professional services and systems maintenance posted 30 percent revenue growth.
EMC shares rose 35 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $15.94 in morning trading.
“EMC is off to a solid start to the year, and we remain on track to achieve the 2008 financial targets we set for the business at the beginning of the year,” said Joe Tucci, chairman, president and chief executive of EMC, whose rivals include IBM Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., and Network Appliance Inc.
EMC reported earnings a day after VMware Inc., a storage software maker in which EMC holds a majority…