Tuck away that tissue, Linux investor

From a story at TheStreet.com: Oh dour, depressed Linux investor, happiness is at hand. VA Linux unburdened the skeptical hearts of Wall Street Wednesday with 46% revenue growth to $50.7 million in its fiscal fourth quarter from its third quarter. Despite finishing up the acquisition of Andover.net in the quarter — Andover.net was expected to have a loss of its own — the Linux server maker and consulting services company also trimmed its loss to 10 cents a share, or $4.08 million, in the quarter ended July 28, from 13 cents in its third quarter. Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial anticipated a loss of 15 cents a share And that’s not the best part. Wall Street had hoped to see improved profit margins for the firm. Young Cobalt, by comparison, has perky margins of 47%, while VA Linux’s fiscal third-quarter margins were a cloudy 17.8%. Tuck away that Kleenex, downtrodden Linux investor, VA Linux offered up a sparkly gift-wrapped gross profit margin of 22% in the fiscal fourth quarter. (Full disclosure: VA Linux owns NewsForge.)