3Com posts profit in fourth quarter
MARLBOROUGH - 3Com Corp., a maker of computer networking gear, posted a fourth-quarter profit yesterday, reversing a loss during the same period a year earlier, when an impairment charge hurt results.
Net income climbed to $20.2 million, or 5 cents per share, for the three months ended May 29. That’s up from a loss of $166.7 million, or 41 cents per share, during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008. Results in the year-earlier quarter included a goodwill impairment charge of $158 million.
Excluding one-time items, quarterly income rose to $37.2 million, or 10 cents per share.
Revenue slid 8 percent to $295.1 million from $321.3 million in same period last year.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected a profit of 5 cents per share on revenue of $294.8 million. Wall Street typically excludes one-time items from its estimates.
