EMC Q2 Results Better Than Expected, Completes Data Domain Acquisition

EMC has reported a slight increase in revenue last quarter and provided an optimistic forecast for the second half of the year.

The announcement came as it completed the USD $2.1 billion acquisition of data deduplication specialist Data Domain.

The company said that IT budgets have stabilized and customers are more confident about their visibility.

It reported net income of USD $205.2 million on revenue of USD $3.26 billion, down 11 per cent from a year ago.

On the revenue front, EMC now projects 2009 sales of USD $13.8 billion compared with previous estimates of $13.5 billion.

Data Domain, whose acquisition closed today, will contribute USD $200 million in revenue for 2009 and will be neutral to non-GAAP earnings.

Meanwhile, third quarter revenue is expected to rise 2 to 3 per cent sequentially excluding Data Domain results. Data Domain's inclusion results in sequential growth of four to five per cent.

EMC CEO, Joe Tucci, said that EMC expects the company to generate double-digit revenue growth rates.

"when IT markets resume to a more normal spending rate," he added.

Meanwhile, the fate of EMC's current data deduplication partner, Quantum Corp., remains unclear after EMC executives avoided mentioning the firm during the earnings call.

To most industry watchers, the writing seems to be on the wall for Quantum.