* Recent financials for Extreme Networks and Foundry Networks
Today I’d like to take a look at the financials of two of the movers and shakers of the Gigabit Ethernet switching world – Extreme Networks and Foundry Networks. In their most recent quarters, one did very well and one not so well, providing quite a contrast.
Foundry Networks had a great three months. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, revenue was $111.1 million, 9% higher than the previous quarter and up 28% from the same quarter a year ago. Net income was $24.1 million, or 17 cents per diluted share, more than double the income from the same period last year.
Foundry CEO and President Bobby Johnson in a statement said that record sales in Europe and Asia boosted the company’s numbers, as well as sales to U.S. government customers.
Extreme had a rough time, by comparison. Its net revenues for the quarter ended Dec. 28 were $83.4 million, down 4.6% from the previous quarter and off 7.5% from the same quarter a year ago.
Extreme lost $5.6 million, or 5 cents per share – just after having trumpeted a return to profitability in the previous quarter. The good news, however, is that Extreme lost much less than it did in the same period last year – $19 million, or 17 cents per share.
Both of these companies, which emerged in the mid-1990s, will face increased competition in 2004, as they battle over prices and features against ever more-powerful LAN equipment vendors. Actually, it’s amazing how well both have done thus far; I had expected one or both to have been acquired by bigger fish long ago. It will be interesting to see how they fare in 2004.
