Silicon Graphics Inc went back into profit for its fiscal fourth quarter, surprising analysts who had predicted a loss. SGI saw income of $22m, or $0.12 a share for the quarter, compared with a loss of $220m in the same period last year. Including an investment gain from the sale of stock from Mips Technologies Inc of $135.5m during the quarter, the company posted net income of $158m. Revenue was up 7.1% to $828.6m from $773.5m last time.
For the year, SGI made a loss of $115m, excluding the investment gains, or a profit of $54m including gains of $169m from the initial and secondary offerings of MIPS shares. Revenue for the year was $2.7bn, compared with $3.1bn in fiscal 1998.
SGI, still making its product transition over from Unix workstations to cheaper, Windows NT-based systems, said it had seen strong gains from its Origin Unix server business. This was attributable, it said, to a field focus on servers, a stronger roadmap and more competitive microprocessor performance.
Separately, the company said it was now shipping volume units of its digital flat panel monitor for Apple Computer Inc Macintosh systems, which it developed in conjunction with Number Nine Visual Technology Corp. The SGI 1600SW monitor costs $2,895 in the US from distributors.
