Revenue Rises at BEA Systems

BEA Systems (BEAS) beat the Street's estimate for its fourth quarter-sales late Thursday but was unable to report profit information because of its ongoing stock-options investigation.

The business software company posted revenue of $391.8 million, rising 15% from $341.4 million in the same quarter last year. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had forecast $385.5 million on the top line.

The consensus estimate was for EPS of 15 cents.

"BEA is not providing full GAAP or non-GAAP financials for the fourth quarter or fiscal year due to the previously announced voluntary internal review of BEA's historical stock option grants, which has been conducted by the audit committee of BEA's board of directors with the assistance of independent legal counsel," the company said in a statement.

BEA said that the outcome of that review will require changing the accounting of certain option grants, which will have a negative impact on its results for certain periods.

The audit committee and the board have confidence in the "leadership and integrity" of BEA CEO and Chairman Alfred Chuang and the current executive team, the company said.

The San Jose, Calif.-based firm did not immediately provide an outlook for the current quarter or the year ahead.

Analysts are looking for an EPS of 14 cents a share on sales of $364.5 million for the first quarter. For the full year, Wall Street pegs the company for a profit of 62 cents a share and revenue of $1.55 billion.

Shares of the company were recently up 12 cents to $13.32 after hours; they closed the regular session up 9 cents.