NetApp Profit Falls but Beats Expectations

Data storage maker NetApp reported quarterly results ahead of Wall Street expectations, although most of its customers were being more cautious, but it still expects to be resilient in the face of the downturn.

In after hours trading the company's shares were up to $10.60 from $10.39.

NetApp , a smaller rival to EMC , said it would not offer an outlook for its third quarter ended Oct. 24.

"It's very difficult to predict," said Chief Executive Dan Warmenhoven in an interview. "It's very clear that the economy is going into a contraction and most of our customers are going to be very conservative going forward."

But Warmenhoven was optimistic his company will do well during a downturn he forecast would last at least three quarters.

He said NetApp was more resilient than some other high tech companies because businesses must keep increasing data storage.

Net profit dropped to $49.2 million, or 15 cents per share, from $83.8 million, or 23 cents per share.

Excluding items, profit was 28 cents per share, beating Wall Street forecasts of27 cents.

Revenues rose to $912 million from $792 million in the fiscal second quarter, beating Wall Street expectations of $905 million.

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