EMC Gets Muted Cheer

EMC(EMC Quote - Cramer on EMC - Stock Picks) beat Wall Street's top- and bottom-line expectations for its fourth quarter, but like Apple(APPL Quote - Cramer on APPL - Stock Picks) and IBM(IBM Quote - Cramer on IBM - Stock Picks) before it, got a mixed reception from technology-shy investors.

Shares slipped after the early-morning announcement, but recovered and in recent trading on Tuesday were up 13 cents, or nearly 1%, to $13.60.

Strong quarterly results followed by so-so guidance has been something of a trend this earnings season, and EMC was no exception. The company's guidance for 2007 was barely above First Call estimates and EMC declined to give a quarterly projection for the first time in years.

The company earned $389 million, or 18 cents a share, during the December quarter, compared with $148 million, or 6 cents a share a year ago. Revenue climbed 19% to a record $3.215 billion.

Excluding a restructuring charge of 6 cents a share and non-recurring tax benefits of 7 cents a share, the Hopkinton, Mass., data-storage company earned 17 cents a share, 2 cents higher than the company had forecast in October, and a penny better than the estimates of analysts polled by Thomson First Call. Analysts were looking for revenue of $3.169 billion.

CEO Joe Tucci indicated some disappointment with his company's uneven performance during 2006 -- EMC posted two weak quarters early in the year, followed by a strong finish -- but said "2007 will be EMC's year." Tucci said he expects overall IT spending to grow by about 6% in 2007, well above the 2.8% projected by market research firm Gartner last month.

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