EMC Breaks Even In Second Quarter

The Hopkinton-based company had posted three straight quarterly losses following 12 years of uninterrupted profitability.

On Thursday, it said second-quarter net income was $808,000, or less than a penny per share, including the effects of a $25 million after-tax benefit from a reversal of a previous restructuring charge.

Excluding the reversal, the company lost $11 million, or 1 cent per share, compared to profits of $109 million, or 5 cents per share, for the same quarter last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call expected a loss of 2 cents per share.

"Economic conditions and customer spending patterns in the second quarter were very similar to the first quarter," EMC President and Chief Executive Joe Tucci said. "Most large corporations continue to delay major IT projects, generally limiting their purchases to deployments that provide a rapid return on their investment."

Second-quarter revenue was $1.39 billion, up 7 percent from $1.30 billion a year ago. Software revenues grew 14 percent.

EMC's products include the hardware and software that store information for data-heavy companies like airlines, banks and insurance companies. On Wednesday, EMC announced plans to share software code with rival Hewlett-Packard to make their products more compatible.

In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of EMC fell 23 cents, or 2.7 percent, to close Thursday at $8.40.

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