Red Hat Cuts 3Q LossRed Hat Cuts 3Q Loss

Linux software company Red Hat Inc. narrowed its third-quarter net loss on a 4% decline in revenue and said sales should pick up next quarter, though they'll still be lower than last year's.

Red Hat lost $15 million for its third quarter ended Nov. 30, compared with a net loss of $21.4 million a year ago. Volume license sales of the Linux operating system to large companies are helping, CFO Kevin Thompson said in a statement. But revenue declined to $21.5 million, compared with $22.4 million last year.

Thompson told analysts during a conference call Tuesday that the company expects fourth-quarter sales to rise 3% to 5%. That would still be a drop compared with sales of $27 million during the fourth quarter a year ago. Red Hat also expects an operating loss of $2 million for the current quarter.

Meanwhile, Red Hat continues to expand its portfolio of Linux products. On Monday, the company said it's shipping a version of Red Hat Linux that runs on IBM mainframes.