EMC 1Q net income falls 1 percent, revenue up

HOPKINTON, Mass. (AP) -- Data storage equipment maker EMC Corp. reported a small decline in its first-quarter net income on Wednesday. The results fell short of Wall Street's expectations as the pace of its revenue growth continued to slow.

Chairman and CEO Joseph Tucci said EMC's customers remained cautious about technology spending because of the "continuing tide of political and economic uncertainties."

But he added, in a conference call with analysts, that EMC is confident it can meet its 2013 projections thanks to a strong product cycle — especially in the second half of the year.

The results come less than a week after business technology bellwether IBM Corp. posted a decline in its first-quarter profit and revenue. And on Tuesday, EMC's majority-owned subsidiary VMware Inc. gave a second-quarter outlook that was below analysts' expectations.

EMC earned $580.1 million, or 26 cents per share, in the January-March period. That's down 1 percent from $586.8 million, or 27 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were 39 cents per share in the latest quarter, a penny shy of Wall Street's expectations.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $5.39 billion from $5.09 billion.

Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 40 cents per share on revenue of $5.43 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

For the full year, the company is reaffirmed its adjusted earnings guidance of $1.85 per share on revenue of $23.5 billion. Analysts are expecting earnings of $1.87 per share on revenue of $23.48 billion.

EMC also said that it expects to repurchase $1 billion of its stock in 2013.

Shares of Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC rose 21 cents to $22.57 in late morning trading.