BEA's Net Rises 59%; Profit Restatement Is Issued By Firm; Shares Hold Steady
BEA Systems Inc. announced a long-awaited restatement of past earnings and a 59% jump in profit in its latest period.</br></br>But the news had little immediate impact on BEA's stock price, which has been closely watched as a gauge for how much an acquirer might pay for the software company.</br></br>In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the San Jose, Calif., company restated earnings for its fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2007, as well as several quarters of earnings, starting with the period ended July 31, 2006. For the period ended Oct. 31, BEA reported third-quarter net income of $56 million, or 13 cents a share. Revenue rose 11% to $384.4 million.</br></br>The company also said that, if it achieves the midpoint of its fourth-quarter guidance, it will have fiscal-year earnings per share of 70 cents, excluding certain items, which would be 23% higher than analysts' consensus estimate of 57 cents per share.</br></br>"We're now able to see the very significant profitability improvements we've seen over the last several months," BEA CEO Alfred Chuang said in a call with analysts. "We believe this outperformance will significantly impact how investors value BEA."