EMC 1Q Net Meets Views, Helped by Asia Sales

EMC (NYSE:EMC) revealed a 28% improvement in first-quarter profit, fueled by record revenues from its Asia Pacific and Japan regions.

The developer and provider of information and virtual infrastructure technologies posted net income of $477.1 million, or 21 cents a share. Excluding one-time items, the company earned 31 cents, matching average analyst estimates polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue for the Hopkinton, Mass.-based company climbed 18% to $4.6 billion, narrowly beating the Street’s view of $4.51 billion. Sales were higher in its U.S. and Europe, Middle East and African regions, up 12% and 26%, respectively, led by Asia Pacific and Japan, which grew a record 43% year-over-year.

“EMC is off to a strong start in 2011 with significant opportunity and long-term growth potential ahead,” Joe Tucci, the company’s chief executive, said in a statement. “With market-leading virtualization and information infrastructure products and services, and a strong partner ecosystem, we are positioned squarely at the intersection of two of the most sweeping trends in IT – cloud computing and Big Data.”

During the quarter, EMC saw a boost in demand for its EMC Symmetric storage products, which climbed 25% year-over-year. Its portfolio of mid-tier storage products, up 20% from the year-earlier period, also contributed.

The company anticipates 2011 non-GAAP earnings of $1.46 on revenue of $19.6 billion. Analysts are looking for earnings of $1.48 on revenue of $19.65 billion.