“The company’s sales came chiefly from sales of rack-mountable
servers used to build up Internet infrastructure, chief executive
Larry Augustin said in an interview today. The most popular product
is 3.5 inches thick, but future demand is moving two models 1.75
inches thick, he said. In addition, the company expects sales of
servers packed with hard disks to be popular.”
“Augustin predicted revenue next fiscal year 2.5 to 2.75
this year’s $120 million–$300 million to $330 million, but that
still likely won’t be enough to carry the company to profitability.
“We’re expecting to be in the black by the end of calendar
2001,” the second quarter of VA’s fiscal year, Augustin
said. WR Hambrecht analyst Prakesh Patel sees VA’s profit
margins increasing. Several acquisitions by VA “show the solid
progress VA has made” in shifting its revenue stream to high-margin
professional services, hardware and software integrated to work
together. The company’s products sell to Internet service
providers, customers needing data storage and Internet
infrastructure, and all [are] high-growth markets.”
“VA’s results mean Linux companies have surpassed analyst
expectations twice in two days. Linux seller Caldera yesterday
reported a loss of 19 cents a share when analysts expected a loss
of 25. Caldera, though, had revenues of $1.2 million, much less
than VA’s.”