CA Profit Rises 41% on Lower Costs

By Tess Stynes 

CA Inc. said its earnings rose 41% due to lower expenses, but negative currency impacts exacerbated the drop in revenue during the quarter ended March.

For the fiscal year ending in March 2016, CA forecast per-share earnings of $2.38 to $2.45 and revenue of $3.95 billion to $3.99 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $2.47 and revenue of $4.18 billion.

Formerly known as Computer Associates, CA, also known as CA Technologies, makes software for mainframe computers and other hardware.

The Islandia, N.Y., company has been shedding noncore businesses to focus operations on core areas: management cloud, application development and operations, and security.

Chief Executive Mike Gregoire said CA focused on its strategy, introduced new products and strengthened relationships with customers in the fiscal year that ended in March.

"As demonstrated by this quarter's results, however, we still have work to do to drive the kind of growth that our company has the potential to achieve," he added.

For quarter, CA reported a profit of $151 million, or 34 cents a share, up from $107 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, per-share earnings from continuing operations fell to 56 cents from 62 cents. Revenue decreased 5.6% to $1.02 billion. Excluding currency impacts, revenue declined roughly 1%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of 50 cents and revenue of $1.04 billion.

Excluding currency impacts, the company's bookings declined 5%, while backlog dropped 8%.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

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