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EMULEX'S BACKLOG UP AT YEAR-END

Storage-networking equipment maker Emulex Corp said in a regulatory filing that its order backlog at the end of fiscal 2002 was up 30 percent from a year earlier, but analysts said similar disclosures in the past had not been meaningful.

Costa Mesa, California-based Emulex said it had unshipped orders of about $76.8 million when its fiscal year ended on June 30. On July 1, 2001, that number was $59 million.

Emulex said all orders included in its year-end backlog were scheduled for delivery within six months or less. Orders can be canceled or rescheduled with little or no penalty, the company said.

While backlogs can indicate that a company has more orders than it can fill, Emulex said the rate of booking new orders fluctuates from month to month and that the level of backlog at any one time is not necessarily indicative of trends in its business.

Emulex posted a 2002 net loss that expanded by more than four times from the year earlier to $96.2 million, due in part to a $39 million charge related to its purchase of storage networking shop Giganet.

Its total revenue for fiscal 2002 grew 4 percent to $254.7 million.

The company forecast fiscal 2003 revenues rising to between $305 million and $325 million. Despite the increase, the outlook disappointed Wall Street, which had set its target higher.

Data storage networking stocks finished down this week, after Brocade Communications Systems Inc declined to update its guidance at an investment conference and spawned worries that the company will issue a profit warning.