Macromedia Beats by a Penny

Updated from 4:33 p.m. EDT

Macromedia(MACR Quote), the company being acquired by software maker Adobe Systems(ADBE Quote), posted fiscal first-quarter earnings Wednesday that beat Wall Street estimates by a penny.

The company's guidance for the second quarter, meanwhile, straddled current targets.

Under generally accepted accounting principles, San Francisco-based Macromedia reported net income of $15.2 million, or 19 cents a share, in the fiscal first quarter, which ended June 30. A year earlier, Macromedia, whose Flash products lets users add video and animation to Web sites, reported net income of $13 million, or 17 cents a share.

Excluding charges, Macromedia earned non-GAAP net income of $18.1 million, or 22 cents a share, in the first quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate from Thomson First Call by a penny. Macromedia posted non-GAAP net income of $13.7 million, or 18 cents a share, a year earlier.

Macromedia's net revenue rose 13% to $116.8 million, from $103.6 million a year earlier. That modestly exceeded the consensus estimate of analysts calling for $114.1 million in sales and the company's guidance, which projected that sales would be flat to slightly down sequentially from $116.1 million in the March quarter.

Looking forward, Macromedia expects second-quarter revenue to range from $120 million and $125 million, with gross margins ranging from 91% to 93% and operating profit margin ranging from 17% to 19% excluding merger-related costs. Analysts last projected that Macromedia would post $122.2 million in sales and 25 cents a share in earnings in the second quarter.

On a post-close conference call, Macromedia reiterated previous guidance for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006, projecting net revenue exceeding $500 million and an operating profit margin trending toward 20% on a non-GAAP basis during the course of the year.

Macromedia also said it would hold a special shareholders meeting Aug. 24 to vote on the company's merger with Adobe.