EMC's Solid 4Q Finishes Winning YearEMC's Solid 4Q Finishes Winning Year

EMC must have been sorry to see 2003 end. The storage vendor posted fourth-quarter revenue of $1.9 billion, up 25% from the $1.5 billion it reported in the year-ago quarter. The company also got back into the black, posting a profit of $220 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with a loss of $64 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.

For all of 2003, EMC posted revenue of $6.2 billion, 15% higher from $5.4 billion in 2002. Net income was $496 million, or 22 cents per share, compared with a loss of $119 million, or 5 cents per share, the year before.

The vendor cited double-digit growth from the third to the fourth quarters for its high-end Symmetrix storage system, Centera content-addressable storage, and some software and services. EMC says its commodity-based Clariion midrange storage cracked the $1 billion mark in 2003.

Joe Tucci, president and CEO at EMC, praised his employees and said continued innovation didn't slow down during the slower quarters. He also said continued strained budgets, compliance demand, and information protection created early interest for Information Life-Cycle Management, the automated processes for managing information from creation through deletion.