On May 30, computing platform veteran Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL) released second-quarter earnings for the period ended April 30, 2007.

  • Linux sales amounted to $29 million, 110% more than in the year-ago period; 25% of those sales came from the Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) cross-promotion deal.
  • On the other hand, revenue from good old NetWare and its sequel, Open Enterprise Server, declined 14% year over year.
  • The just-completed review of 10 years' worth of options accounting practices showed up as a $5.9 million expense against net income. Excluding that decidedly one-time cost, Novell made, rather than lost, a penny per share.
  • It's hard to complain about a 10% share buyback in just one year, and the company has plenty of cash left to buy back more of its own stock.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

Q2 2007

Q2 2006

Change

Sales

$239.2

$233.1

2.6%

Net Profit

($2.2)

$3.3

N/A

EPS

($0.01)

$0.01

N/A

Diluted Shares

346.5

385.3

(10.1%)

Get back to basics with the income statement.

Margin Checkup

Q2 2007

Q2 2006

Change*

Gross Margin

70.7%

66.8%

3.9

Operating Margin

(4.6%)

(2.3%)

(2.3)

Net Margin

(0.9%)

1.4%

(2.4)

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets

Q2 2007

Q2 2006

Change

Cash + ST Invest.

$1,791.7

$1,339.0

33.8%

Accounts Rec.

$178.3

$219.2

(18.7%)

Liabilities

Q2 2007

Q2 2006

Change

Accounts Payable

$43.4

$46.7

(7.1%)

Long-Term Debt

$600.0

$600.0

0.0%

The balance sheet reflects the company's health.

Cash Flow Highlights

Q2 2007

Q2 2006

Change

Cash From Ops.

($28.6)

($23.9)

(19.4%)

Capital Expenditures

$7.6

($0.3)

N/A

Free Cash Flow

($36.1)

($23.6)

(52.9%)

Owner Earnings

$5.1

$15.4

(67.0%)

Free cash flow is a Fool's best friend.

Related Foolishness:

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean.

At the time of publication, Anders Bylund had no position in any company mentioned. Fool rules are here.