DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA) swung to a fiscal fourth-quarter loss - its fourth in a row - on lower sales and margins in what may be its last quarterly report as an independent company.

The loss was smaller than Sun predicted last month but the revenue was in line with its guidance.

Oracle Corp. (ORCL), which is close to completing a $7.38 billion deal to buy Sun, continues to predict the acquisition will boost its profit.

Once one of Silicon Valley's most influential companies, Sun reacted later than competitors to a shift to low-price server systems. More recently, the hardware and software maker suffered more than competitors because many customers were concentrated in the hard-hit financial-services sector.

After a much-ballyhooed deal with International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) fell through, Oracle offered $9.50 a share. The deal is expected to close this summer.

For the quarter ended June 30, Sun reported a loss of $147 million, or 20 cents a share, compared with a profit of $88 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier.

The latest results included $64 million in restructuring charges and a $15 million write-down of goodwill and other intangible assets. The prior-year results included $104 million in restructuring charges.

Excluding stock-based compensation and acquisition-related costs and other items, the loss was 3 cents a share compared with earnings of 35 cents a share a year earlier.

Revenue dropped 31% to $2.63 billion.

Last month, Sun projected a loss of 6 cents to 16 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $2.58 billion to $2.68 billion, below what Wall Street was expecting at that time. Analysts' latest estimates were for a loss of 9 cents a share on revenue of $2.8 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Gross margin fell to 40.5% from 44.3%, while inventories decreased 17%.

Product revenue fell 38% while services revenue declined 18%.

Sun's shares slid 0.2% to $9.32 in after-hours trading. The stock has more than doubled this year.

-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2357; Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com