Red Hat Tops Estimates

SAN FRANCISCO - Red Hat(RHT Quote) exceeded Wall Street second-quarter estimates Wednesday.

Revenue at the Raleigh, NC software company jumped 29% to $164.4 million, from $127.3 million in the same quarter of last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a top line of $163.6 million.

Profit grew 15% to $22 million, or 10 cents a share, vs. $19.1 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding special charges, EPS was 20 cents. Analysts were looking for earnings of 18 cents a share.

Shares were up 54 cents, or 3%, to $18.44 in after-hours trading.

Deferred revenue grew 32% year over year to $496.9 million. Gross profit margin was 83.3%.

The Linux open-source software developer competes with Novell(NOVL Quote).