Red Hat: Fiscal 2Q Earnings Snapshot

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ Red Hat Inc. (RHT) on Wednesday reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $86.9 million.

The Raleigh, North Carolina-based company said it had net income of 46 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and amortization costs, were 85 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 81 cents per share.

The open-source software company posted revenue of $822.7 million in the period, falling short of Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $827.6 million.

For the current quarter ending in December, Red Hat expects its per-share earnings to be 87 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $848 million to $856 million for the fiscal third quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $862.7 million.

Red Hat expects full-year earnings in the range of $3.45 to $3.49 per share, with revenue ranging from $3.36 billion to $3.4 billion.

Red Hat shares have climbed 19 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed nearly 9 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $143.18, an increase of 34 percent in the last 12 months.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on RHT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/RHT