Emulex Corp

Emulex Corp., a Costa Mesa-based computer equipment manufacturer, said Thursday that it had a $10.1-million loss in its latest quarter because of higher expenses and charges related to an acquisition. Chief Executive Jim McCluney said the one-time charges were a minor pothole on the path toward broadening Emulex's products, which help computers communicate with one another and manage and store data. "Our second-quarter results were the highest revenues we've ever achieved," McCluney said.

Emulex Corp. said earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter, ended July 2, fell 50% to $12.7 million, or 14 cents a share, from $25.3 million, or 28 cents, in the same period last year. The Costa Mesa maker of devices for storage networks said revenue fell 9% to $98.9 million. -- Jerry Hirsch

Emulex Corp., which makes hardware components that help computers store data, said President James McCluney was replacing Chief Executive Paul Folino, who would become chairman. Folino has been CEO since 1993, Costa Mesa-based Emulex said. McCluney joined Emulex as president in 2003 after serving as CEO of Vixel Corp.

Emulex Corp. moved to a profit in its fiscal fourth quarter as the company's results surpassed expectations on stronger sales for its adapters used to link data storage networks. The Costa Mesa maker of storage networking infrastructure products said net income rose to $25.3 million, or 28 cents a share, contrasted with a loss of $572.9 million, or $6.97, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, the company earned $26.6 million, or 30 cents a share, in the period ended July 3.

Emulex Corp., whose computer chips and cards are used in data-storage machines made by companies such as EMC Corp., agreed to buy Vixel Corp. to acquire its storage technology. Emulex, based in Costa Mesa, will pay $10 a share in cash for Bothell, Wash.-based Vixel, for a total of about $310 million, the companies said. That's a premium of 17% to Vixel's closing share price Tuesday of $8.54 on Nasdaq. Shares of Emulex fell 52 cents to $28.20 on the NYSE.

Emulex Corp.'s stock surged 30% Thursday on news of a favorable rating by an analyst. The Costa Mesa maker of computer-network connection equipment was raised to "outperform" from "market perform" by analyst Robert Montague at Morgan Keegan & Co. Montague said the shift to fiber channels is accelerating, and Emulex is a leading supplier of fiber channels. The stock climbed $2.19 a share to $9.50 on the Nasdaq market.

Shares of Emulex Corp. were battered the last two days of the week, dropping 24% over the period, after the company disclosed midweek that it would take $13 million in charges and close its Puerto Rico plant. The manufacturer of computer network products disclosed the charge to its fiscal third quarter after the market closed Wednesday. It said 130 full-time employees and 48 temporary workers were fired as part of the plant closing.

Emulex Corp. said it will take a pretax $13-million charge in its fiscal third quarter to close its manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico, as it focuses on other businesses. Emulex, a computer network-products company, will close its operations in Dorado, Puerto Rico, and fire 130 full-time employees, or 48% of its work force, as well as 45 temporary workers. A unit of Kent Electronics Corp. will manufacture Emulex products.

Caught with three major customers whose product sales slowed significantly last year, computer networking specialist Emulex Corp. said Thursday that it has laid off 27 of its 300 workers as part of a reorganization. Most of the layoffs occurred at Emulex facilities in the Pacific Northwest, where the company cut back its Pacific Rim sales force and moved two software units from Washington to company headquarters in Costa Mesa. Only nine workers in Orange County were laid off, a spokesman said.

Emulex Corp. signed an exclusive three-year agreement to supply International Business Machines Corp. with its network interface card for a new series of workgroup IBM printers. A spokesman for Emulex could not put a value on the contract, saying it would depend on how well IBM's printers sell.