Cloud computing powers EMC earnings

EMC Corp., the world's largest maker of data storage computers, said Tuesday that its third-quarter net income grew 28 percent, thanks to strong worldwide demand for its cloud computing and data storage products and services.

The company reported net income of $605.6 million, or 27 cents per share, up from $472.5 million, or 22 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Adjusted earnings were 37 cents per share. This figure excludes stock compensation expenses, restructuring and acquisition-related charges and other items.

Revenue rose 18 percent to $4.98 billion from $4.21 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting adjusted earnings of 36 cents per share on revenue of $4.92 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci said he is pleased with EMC's solid quarterly performance.

"Global customer demand for our industry-leading products and services, which led to record quarterly financial results, is clear evidence that EMC is at the center of the most transformative, disruptive and opportunity-rich trends in (information technology) history — namely hybrid cloud computing and the explosion of Big Data," Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci said in a statement.

Companies and customers are increasingly shifting to "cloud computing," in which software and data are stored on remote servers rather than in-house computers. "Big data," meanwhile, refers to the vast troves of digital information available from a broad range of sources from social networks to city traffic patterns and music and movie files.

For 2011, EMC expects earnings of $1.07 per share and adjusted earnings of $1.48 per share, the latter matching Wall Street's expectations. It is forecasting revenue of $19.8 billion for the year. Analysts are expecting $19.84 billion.

EMC's shares rose 72 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $23.40 in premarket trading.