Middleware and e-commerce software house BEA Systems Inc edged out expectations for its fiscal third quarter ended October 31 as revenue rose sharply. Excluding acquisition-related expenses, pro forma earnings per share came in at $0.12, up from $0.07 a year ago and better than the $0.10 consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call. Total revenue for the quarter jumped 56.3% year-over-year and 22.5% sequentially to $126.5m. Separately, the company announced a two-for-one stock split.
Revenue from software license fees rose 45.9% to $77.9m and accounted for 62% of overall sales, while services revenue grew 76.4% to $48.5m. The company said sales of the WebLogic web application server grew to account for 40% of total license revenue – up from about 25% six months ago. Internet-related projects increased to 54% of license revenue, continuing a trend that has led BEA to recast itself as an e-commerce company in recent months.
Including charges, the San Jose-based company reported net income of $49,000, or $0.00 per share, against a net loss of $6.2m in the year-ago quarter. For the nine-month period, net loss was $6.0m on revenue up 52.3% at $315.2m, against a loss of $47.6m last year. Excluding acquisition-related expenses, BEA had operating income of $29.1m for the first nine months of fiscal 2000, up 79% from operating income of $16.3m for the corresponding period last year. Pro forma EPS were $0.24, up from $0.14.
