There's much concern in the information technology (IT) world. Might companies cut back on spending in light of the slowing economy?
Well, as for Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the environment seems to be OK. For example, in Q4, the company posted a 27% increase in revenues to $141.5 million. What's more, bookings are bulging (above $200 million).
While RedHat has a strong business with its Linux offerings, the company is also seeing lots of traction with its middleware platform, known as JBoss. Interestingly enough, with Oracle's (NASDAQ: ORCL) buyout of BEA Systems (NASDAQ: BEAS), there's been a surge in downloads of JBoss. Basically, customers want an alternative.
Going forward, Red Hat forecasts revenues of $665 million to $680 for the upcoming year. Earnings are expected to range from $0.78 to $0.82 per share.
And Red Hat recently purchased Amentra, which is a systems services company. Basically, the deal will allow Red Hat to continue to turbocharge its sales of JBoss.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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