Sun reports 3rd quarter results, posts loss

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Lots of ink spilled in the IT press last week over Sun’s quarterly results. Revenues for the quarter that ended in March were down $17M and came in $100M under analysts expectations, according to coverage at FT.com. Sun posted a loss of $34M after taxes, or 4 cents a share. The 3Q2007 result was a net income of 7 cents a share.

The real problem with all of this is that the Sun leadership team has been going on about 10% year over year growth. From coverage at TheStreet.com

Sun’s weak quarterly results marked the first major failure under the leadership of Jonathan Schwartz and Mike Lehman, who took over as CEO and CFO, respectively, in 2006.

The pair returned Sun to profitability last year, after several years of losses, and promised investors that revenue growth and a 10% operating margin were both around the corner.

But the message on Thursday was that neither goals appeared in sight anymore.

Sun projected that revenue in the fourth quarter would be flat year-over-year. And instead of the 10% operating income targeted for next fiscal year, Sun is now aiming for 7%.

Sun is planning to offset the losses with a layoff of from 1,500 to 2,500 employees (of about 34,000 total).