Red Hat Shares Slide After Missing Estimates

Red Hat Inc., parent company of Fedora and all around jewel in our Open Source eye, has suffered a tiny setback in its march towards Linux world domination today. Shares had fallen by a mere one percent by close, but after hours trading hasn't been as kind.

Red Hat released their earnings report June 20 that showed a 19 cent per share profit for the first-quarter. This $37.5 million profit from $314.7 million earnings shows an increase over last year's $32.5 million on $264.7 million, yet shares dropped in after hours trading due to lower billings than estimated by industry experts.

This miss could be attributed, at least in part, to a weakening US dollar and contracting economy. Experts are still bullish on Red Hat given their profit estimates for the second-quarter which should range between 28 cents to 29 cents a share according to a company spokesman.

 Shares fell from $56.50 per share at close to $50.99 in after hours trading. Shares had increased 37 percent this year prior to today's activity.

Oracle and Microsoft were up slightly today.