By Lisa Beilfuss 

EMC Corp., in the process of being taken private by Dell Inc., logged disappointing results in its latest quarter amid an excess of unfilled orders.

The Hopkinton, Mass., company struck a deal with Dell in October, at the time valued at about $67 billion and representing the biggest tech deal ever. Chief Executive Joe Tucci has reiterated that the merger remains on track to be completed by October, despite concerns that the deal was at risk partly because of a drop in its value.

"We expect the transaction to happen on the original terms and within the originally announced time frame," Mr. Tucci said Wednesday.

The deal includes EMC's controlling stake in VMware Inc., a seller of data-center software that accounts for about a third of EMC's top line. A series of missteps since the deal was announced have hammered the share price of VMware, widely regarded as the federation's crown jewel, and subsequently lowered the payout that EMC shareholders can expect if the deal goes through. In October, Dell's offer was valued at more than $33 a share. At the close of trading Tuesday, the deal was worth under $30 a share.

Late Tuesday, shares in VMware Inc. surged after the company said it would launch a $1.2 billion stock buyback program, a move that is an attempt to support the merger's closure and that has, at least for now, lifted that leg of the deal.

For the first quarter, EMC reported a profit of $268 million, or 14 cents a share, up from $252 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier. Excluding stock-based compensation expenses and restructuring charges, among other items, earnings per share were 31 cents, flat from the year-ago period.

Revenue slipped 2.5% to $5.48 billion. Analysts projected 33 cents in adjusted per-share profit on $5.63 billion in sales, according to Thomson Reuters.

EMC attributed the disappointing results to an excess of unfulfilled orders at the end of the quarter. According to Chief Financial Officer Denis Cashman, unshipped storage product orders totaled roughly $75 million due to the timing of bookings within the quarter.

In the VMware business, sales rose 5% from a year earlier and the company backed sales guidance for the year. In EMC's Pivotal segment, which offers cloud and big data subscription software, revenue soared 56% from last year's quarter

EMC shares, down 4.6% through Tuesday's close, added 1.6% in premarket trading. VMware's stock traded 8.8% higher.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 20, 2016 07:59 ET (11:59 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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