UPDATE: CA Posts Upbeat Q4 Earnings, Issues Weak FY15 Earnings Forecast

CA

reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter profit. For fiscal-year 2015, CA projects adjusted earnings of $2.45 to $2.52 per share, on revenue of $4.43 billion to $4.49 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $2.56 per share on revenue of $4.47 billion. The company's board also approved a $1 billion share-buyback program. CA's quarterly earnings fell to $107 million, or $0.24 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $242 million, or $0.53 per share. Excluding special items, its adjusted earnings slipped to $0.61 per share from $0.67 per share. Its revenue shrank 3.1% to $1.11 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.58 per share on revenue of $1.09 billion. CA's revenue in North America dropped 2% to $699 million in the quarter, while international revenue declined 4% to $409 million. CA's bookings declined 15% to $1.24 billion, while subscription and maintenance revenue dropped 2.2% to $925 million. Mike Gregoire, CA Technologies Chief Executive Officer said, “We concluded a year of significant transformation and strategic progress on our journey to build CA for growth and market leadership. We have successfully executed our rebalancing program, consolidated development resources in key hubs, shifted innovation investment to new growth markets, and renewed our focus on building and delivering excellent, differentiated solutions to our customers.” CA shares gained 2.39% to $30.79 in pre-market trading.