Red Hat earnings rise 7 percent on surging revenue

RALEIGH (AP) -- Open source software distributor Red Hat Inc. says its fourth-quarter profit rose seven percent as increased sales and marketing expenses offset a jump in revenue.

The Raleigh-based company said it earned $22 million, or 10 per share, in its first quarter under new CEO James Whitehurst. That's up seven percent from the $20.5 million, or 10 cents per share, that Red Hat earned in the year-ago quarter.

Red Hat said its revenue rose 27 percent to $141.5 million in the quarter ending Feb. 29. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to earn 10 cents per share on revenue of $141.1 million.

Whitehurst took over as CEO at the beginning of January, saying that he wanted to go on the offensive against larger rivals Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp.

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