Veritas Has Record Quarter, Expects Revenue Of $2 Billion In 2004

Revenue for the year was $1.8 billion, up 18 percent from $1.5 billion in 2002. The company earned $274.2 million, or 63 cents per share for the year, compared with $57.4 million, or 14 cents per share in 2002.

Gary Bloom, chairman, president, and CEO of Veritas, said the company's strong performance was a testament to what he called its "no hardware" strategy. "The fact that we don't have a hardware dependence is an asset," he said.

The company generated about $174 million in cash from operating activities and exited the quarter with $2.5 billion in cash and short-term investments, said Ed Gillis, Veritas' executive vice president and CFO.

Veritas ended the quarter with a headcount of 6,518 people, said Gillis. He expects the company will increase its headcount about 3 percent during the first quarter of this year.

Veritas is looking forward to a good 2004, Bloom said. "The climate for IT spending has clearly improved, and is getting better," he said.

As a result of the improved economy and improving sales from the company's data protection, storage management and utility computing software products, Veritas expects revenue for 2004 to hit $2 billion, Bloom said.

Gillis said that with better-than-expected performance last quarter and normal software industry seasonal patterns the company expects first quarter revenues of $455 million to $470 million, with earnings expected to be in the 17 cents to 20 cents per share range.