Brocade Sales Surge, Profit Slips

Updated from Monday, Nov. 23

SAN JOSE, Calif. (TheStreet -- Brocade(BRCD Quote) continues to enjoy strong revenue growth, although the company's profit dipped in its fourth-quarter results.

Brocade posted revenue of $521.8 million after the market's close on Monday, up 31% on the same period last year, and in line with Wall Street's prediction of $521.09 million.

Excluding items, Brocade earned 15 cents on net income of $73.4 million, compared to 20 cents and net income of $75.8 million in the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had predicted earnings of 13 cents a share.

"[The fourth quarter] saw tremendous momentum as we exceeded the Street's consensus non-GAAP EPS estimates for the seventeenth consecutive quarter," Brocade CEO Mike Klayko said in a statement. "Looking at 2010, we expect to continue our momentum as we execute our strategy."

On a GAAP basis, the company earned 7 cents a share on net income of $33.6 million, down from 9 cents a share and $35.6 million in the prior year's quarter.

Brocade didn't offer quarterly guidance, in keeping with its recent strategy, but reiterated its fiscal 2010 revenue outlook of $2.25 billion to $2.45 billion. Analysts had predicted 2010 sales of $2.28 billion.

For fiscal 2009, Brocade brought in revenue of $1.95 billion, up 33% on the prior year, and in line with Wall Street's estimates.

Investors responded positively to Brocade's results, pushing the company's shares up about 0.7% to $7.84, in extended trading. Wall Street will be closely monitoring the networking specialist during the coming months to weigh the impact of Hewlett-Packard's(HPQ Quote) 3Com(COMS Quote) acquisition.