STOCK WATCH

Cisco

Cisco beat analyst expectations by a penny with its third quarter results, which showed solid growth in Europe. Net income, minus three acquisition charges, leapt to $483 million, compared with $358 million last year.

Sales for the third quarter jumped 33 per cent to $2.2 billion, compared with $1.6 billion in 1997. Cisco completed the acquisition of Lightspeed International, Wheel Group and Net Speed in the third quarter, for a combined purchase price of $521 million. A one-time charge of $419 million was recorded. John Chambers, president and Cisco chief executive, said he was pleased with the growth rates in the Americas and Europe.

Informix

Informix reported revenue up 12.1 per cent at $167.2 million for the first quarter ended 31 March, with a net profit of $4.9 million - compared with a net loss of $144.2 million last year. It was the company's second straight profitable quarter. In 1997, it lost $358.8 million (including a $108.2 million restructuring charge) on sales of $662.3 million. However, shares fell 7.3 per cent last week closing at $9. Informix faltered last year when it overhyped its next generation Universal Server object-relational database, which led to decreased sales of the company's strongest product Online Dynamic Server product. The company has since refocused on Online Dynamic Server, now renamed Dynamic Server, positioning the Universal Server as an add-on.

EDS

EDS' first quarter profit was hit by acquisition charges and reduced margins. Net profit for the first quarter was $184.2 million for the quarter ended 31 March, which included a $42.5 million one-off charge. This was down from $194.1 million for the same period last year. Overall revenue increased 9.7 per cent to $3.9 billion. The company said profits would be significantly higher in future quarters as it renegotiated a number of contracts, in particular General Motors. The company said year 2000 business continued to be strong.

Acorn

Acorn cut its pre-tax losses for the year ended 31 December 1997 to #2.9 million from #6.3 million for the previous year. Revenue dropped by 16 per cent to #25.2 million as the company moved out of the educational market to focus on developing technologies.

Digi International

Digi International has recorded sales for the quarter ended 31 March of $45.1 million, compared with $40.4 million for the same period last year. Net income was $4.7 million compared with a net loss of $9.4 million a year ago. Jerry Dusa, president and CEO of Digi, admitted the return to profitability was a result of reducing the stock channel partners are forced to carry.