Linux software vendor Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) said on Monday afternoon that its third quarter net income 20% to $24.3 million, or 12 cents a share, from $20.3 million, or 10 cents a share in the corresponding quarter, a year ago. Excluding stock-based compensation and other charges the company earned $48.4 million, or 24 cents a share, for the quarter. Quarterly revenue jumped 22% to $165.3 million. Analysts on an average were looking for company to report earnings of 18 cents a share on revenue of $166.4. President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat Jim Whitehurst said in a statement "Our solid financial results this quarter reflect our strong market position as the low cost, high value provider of infrastructure solutions." He added further "In this budget-constrained environment, IT professionals are adopting open source and more specifically Red Hat to save money and enhance their competitiveness." Whitehurst concluded “A down economic time is relatively good for our business,”  Charlie Peters, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Red Hat stated "This was a strong quarter where we delivered better-than-expected operating income, net income and cash flow. While significant devaluations in most foreign currencies depressed our reported revenue, a combination of focused cost management and natural currency hedging enabled the company to deliver better-than-expected operating margin."Looking ahead, for the fiscal fourth quarter, Red Hat expects to report adjusted earnings of 19 cents to 20 cents a share on revenue of revenue of $166 million to $167.5 million. Shares of Red Hat soared over 8% in extended trading.

Business software maker Tibco Software Inc.(NASDAQ: TIBX)  announced that fourth quarter earnings rose to $32.3 million or 18 cents a share, from $27.6 million or 14 cents a share in year ago quarter. Excluding items, the company said it would have earned 23 cents a share. Total quarterly revenue decreased to $185.5 million from $186.1 million in the same period n 2007. Consensus estimates were for earnings of 19 cents a share on revenue of $195.6 million. For the full fiscal year 2008, the company registered net income of $52.4 million or 29 cents a share, compared to $51.9 million or 25 cents a share in fiscal year 2007. Annual revenue grew 12% to $644.5 million from $577.4 million in the previous year. Analysts on average had projected earnings of 44 cents a share on revenue of $655.28 million for the full year.Vivek Ranadivé, TIBCO's chairman and chief executive officer stated "In spite of a difficult environment, we delivered record operating profits and earnings per share this quarter."As we turn to 2009, I expect a continuing shift away from database oriented solutions to event-based solutions built on 'in-memory' data management systems, as businesses look to more proactively service and acquire customers. TIBCO, with its event-driven infrastructure platform, is well positioned to benefit from this trend." Tibco Software jumped over 8% in late trading on Monday.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.