San Francisco, Oct 18: Network computer maker Sun Microsystems on Thursday saw a wider quarterly loss as weak demand for its servers and tough competition caused sales to fall for the 10th consecutive quarter. Sun posted a net loss of $286m, for the quarter ended September 28, its fiscal first, compared with a loss of $111m, a year earlier. Revenue dropped 7.7% to $2.5 bn from $2.75 bn. Although Sun’s loss was in line with its late-September warning to investors, its shares slipped 2% in after-hours trade after it said price competition in the enterprise computing market stayed intense and showed few signs of easing.
In a sign of its deepening troubles, California-based Sun posted negative cash flow from quarterly operations for the first time in over two years.
Positive cash flow had been one of the company’s most-often cited arguments against the deeper job cuts urged by some Wall Street analysts.
Bureau Report