Sun Microsystems Inc easily beat Wall Street’s second quarter earnings expectation by an average of four cents, coming in at $0.46 on the day and recording a net income of $178.3m up 41% from $126m last time. The whisper prior to the announcement was for $0.45 or $0.46. Revenue was up 19% at $2.08bn from $1.75bn in the same period in 1995. Gross margins were up again, and now stand at 50.4%, up from 47.7% in September quarter; even higher than we had expected… despite price cuts in the quarter, said CFO Michael Lehman. Order growth was 19%. At the half way, revenue was $3.94bn, up 22% on $3.23bn last time; income was up 43% at $301.7m on $210.7m last time. In the geographies, revenue was up 22.6% in North America, 13.9% in Europe and 17.3% elsewhere, where Japan is the biggest market. Operating income was $255.8m up 43% from $177.9m last time. Headcount was up by 1,168 at 19,355.
