SUNNYVALE, CALIF. — JANUARY 8, 2003 —Mercury Interactive Corporation
(Nasdaq: MERQ), the global leader in business technology optimization, today announced preliminary record revenue for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2002.
Mercury Interactive anticipates total revenue for the fourth quarter to be between $116.0 million and $118.0 million. License and subscription revenue is expected to be between $73.0 million and $75.0 million, with license revenue in a range of $58.0 million to $59.5 million and subscription revenue in a range of $15.0 million to $15.5 million. Based on this estimated revenue, operating margin is expected to be between 22 percent and 23 percent and pro forma diluted earnings per share between $0.25 and $0.27. Results for the fourth quarter are expected to include a write-off of approximately $5.0 million in connection with investments in non-consolidated companies. Including the write-off, diluted earnings per share on a GAAP basis are expected to be between $0.20 and $0.22. Deferred revenue is anticipated to increase in excess of $25.0 million.
Mercury Interactive cautions that these results are preliminary, based on the information currently available, and are subject to the final closing of its books and customary accounting procedures and adjustments. Mercury Interactive will report final fourth quarter and year-end 2002 results on January 22, 2003.
"Mercury Interactive’s record fourth quarter revenue is the highest in the history of the company and marks the first time we have exceeded $100 million in quarterly revenue," said Amnon Landan, chairman, CEO and president of Mercury Interactive. "Our business was strong across all products and geographies."
ABOUT MERCURY INTERACTIVE
Mercury Interactive, the global leader in business technology optimization (BTO), delivers Optane‘, a suite of integrated products for enterprise testing, production tuning and performance management, that enables customers to optimize business processes and maximize business results. Customers worldwide - including 75% of the Fortune 500 - use Mercury Interactive solutions across their application and technology infrastructures to continuously measure, maximize and manage performance at every level of the business process and each stage of the application lifecycle to improve quality, reduce costs, and align IT with business goals. Founded in 1989, Mercury Interactive is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in more than 25 countries. Further information is available at www.mercuryinteractive.com or by phone at U.S.
+1.408.822.5200. The company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq
National Market under the symbol MERQ.
The statements concerning Mercury Interactive's future business prospects and product and service offerings contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Numerous important factors affect Mercury Interactive’s operating results and could cause Mercury Interactive’s actual results to differ materially from forecasts and estimates or from any other forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, Mercury Interactive. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following: 1) the effect of continued weak economic factors on the overall demand for software and services which could result in decreased revenues or lower revenue growth rates and increased uncertainty as to our expected revenues in future periods; 2) Mercury Interactive has historically received a substantial portion of its orders at the end of the quarter and if an order shortfall occurs at the end of a quarter it could negatively impact the company’s operating results for that quarter; 3) the dependence of Mercury Interactive's financial growth on the continued success and acceptance of its existing and new software products and services and the ability to increase international sales; 4) intense competition for Mercury Interactive's products and services; and 5) the additional risks and important factors described in Mercury Interactive's SEC reports, including the Annual Report to Stockholders on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001 and other filings with the SEC. # # # Mercury Interactive is a trademark of Mercury Interactive Corporation. Freshwater Software is a registered trademark of our wholly owned subsidiary, Freshwater Software, Inc. Product and company names are used herein for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective companies.