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Sun repeats guidance
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November 16, 2000: 4:39 p.m. ET
Sun Microsystems keeps its financial guidance constant on mid-quarter call
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Sun Microsystems - a leading maker of UNIX-based workstations, storage devices, and servers for powering corporate computer networks - said on a conference call with analysts that it expects its revenue growth percentage to be "in the high 40s" in its fiscal second quarter.
On a mid-quarter update conference call, Sun CFO Michael Lehman said that his guidance for the second fiscal quarter and the remainder of the fiscal year remains the same as when the company reported its first-quarter earnings on Oct. 18.
"We see no conditions that would cause us to alter our guidance for the second quarter or the rest of the fiscal year," Lehman told analysts.
When Sun (SUNW: Research, Estimates) released its first-quarter earnings, the company said that it expected revenue to grow in the high 40 percent range in the second quarter, with new order bookings growing in the high 30 percent range. That forecast includes a planned order backlog reduction of $200 million, which would be the first significant backlog reduction in six years.
Banc of America Securities analyst Kurtis King expects that Sun will report second quarter revenue of $5.3 billion, up 5 percent from the first quarter and 49 percent year-over-year.
"This is at the high end of management's guidance of high 40s growth, but still quite conservative relative to the 14 percent sequential growth Sun has averaged in the past five fiscal second quarters," King said in a research note issued Thursday.
Sun's Lehman said that earnings per share growth in the second quarter should be about the same as revenue growth. The mean analyst estimate for Sun's second quarter is 32 cents per share, according to First Call.
For all of fiscal 2001, Lehman said Sun's revenue growth should be in the mid-30-percent range, which is the same as what he said when the first quarter earnings were released. Earnings per share for fiscal 2001 are expected to grow at that level or slightly below it.
"Strong demand continues, and we are on plan for a good fiscal year," said Ed Zander, Sun's President and Chief Operating Officer, on the conference call held Thursday. 
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