EMC earnings fall short of estimates

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By Emily Micucci

Earnings for Hopkinton-based data storage giant EMC Corp. fell short of analyst expectations in the third quarter, and the company lowered its full-year profit outlook, due to a stronger U.S. dollar that’s expected to temper demand from overseas customers.

The company generated net income of $587 million in the quarter, which ended Sept. 30. That translates to 44 cents per share, just shy of the 46 cents Wall Street analysts had estimated.

Despite the missed expectations, earnings for shareholders increased to 28 cents per share, up from 27 cents in the third quarter of 2013. And EMC’s revenue performance was in line with analysts’ expectations, at $6 billion for the quarter; that’s an increase of 9 percent over last year.

“EMC’s continued momentum is evidence that our strategy and execution are working. Our strategically aligned businesses – EMC Information Infrastructure, VMware, Pivotal and RSA – are well positioned to capitalize on the massive IT market opportunity in front of us,” Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci said in a statement.

The company reported 6-percent growth within its information infrastructure segment, 17-percent revenue growth from VMware, and 24-percent growth from its Pivotal segment.

Meanwhile, EMC confirmed Wednesday that it plans to absorb the majority of Cisco’s stake in the companies’ joint venture, VCE, which specializes in infrastructure for cloud computing. As a result, VCE will become part of EMC, with Cisco and VMware remaining as “strategic partners and investors,” according to EMC. Cisco will retain about 10 percent equity interest in VCE, EMC said.