S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component CA Inc. (NASDAQ:CA) reported net income above Wall Street’s expectations for the third quarter. CA is an information technology software and service company that helps organizations manage and secure their IT infrastructures and services.

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CA Earnings Cheat Sheet for the Third Quarter

Results: Net income for the application software company rose to $263 million (54 cents per share) vs. $200 million (39 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 31.5% from the year earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 10% to $1.26 billion from the year earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: CA reported adjusted net income of 65 cents per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean estimate of 51 cents per share. It beat the average revenue estimate of $1.21 billion.

Quoting Management: “We had a good quarter on many measures and continued to make solid progress against our long-term goals,” said Bill McCracken, chief executive officer, CA Technologies. “However, we are not done. We remain focused on continuing to execute on our strategy and making further operational enhancements including driving new product sales and increasing sales productivity.”

Key Stats:

The company has now seen net income rise in three straight quarters. In the second quarter, net income rose 6.3% and in the first quarter, the figure rose 11.1%.

The company has now topped analyst estimates for the last four quarters. It beat the mark by 4 cents in the second quarter, by 3 cents in the first quarter, and by 2 cents in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.

Looking Forward: Over the past ninety days, the average estimate for the fourth quarter has fallen from 54 cents per share to 51 cents, indicating that analysts are growing pessisimistic about the company’s performance next quarter. The average estimate for the fiscal year is $2.02 per share, down from $2.05 ninety days ago.

Competitors to Watch: Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Intl. Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL), Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), BMC Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:BMC), Quest Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:QSFT), Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC), and Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ:CPWR).

Stock Performance: Shares of CA were up 1.4% from the previous close.

Investing Insights: Will the iPad 3 Be the Next Catalyst for Apple’s Stock?

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

To contact the reporter on this story: Derek Hoffman at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com

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