McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDT) has good news and bad: It has revised its third-quarter earnings forecast, while lowering its earnings per share (EPS) estimates (see McData Lowers EPS Outlook).
McData says it now expects revenues of $85 million to $87 million (up from $82 million to $86 million) when it reports its earnings October 17. But the company has lowered its EPS expectations to $0.01 - $0.03 (from $0.03 - $0.05). This is still in line with First Call estimates of $0.02 a share.
Buoyed by the news, brokerage firm Dain Rauscher Wessels upgraded its rating on the company from a buy to a strong buy."
However, despite the upbeat forecast from McData, management said it is seeing gross margin pressure from slowed sales of its director switches by OEM partners. (Director switches link together multiple distinct storage networks.)
McData generates the vast majority of its revenue through OEMs. EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC)
and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) accounted for 68 percent and 16 percent of revenue, respectively, last quarter.
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