Brocade today delivered moderately disappointing fourth quarter results, which stand as an improvement over painful revenue totals turned in last quarter.

The storage switch maker reported revenue of $146m. That total marks a six per cent decline from the $156m reported in the same period last year. For the full year, Brocade pulled in $574m - a four per cent drop from 2004's $596m.

The slight fall in fourth quarter revenue served as a welcome change from Brocade's third quarter. Investors dumped Brocade shares in August after it revealed a-close-to $20m revenue miss. The company is also in the midst of an SEC investigation as to how it handles stock options, which doesn't help matters.

"Our GAAP revenue and reported sell-through were better than we planned and I'm very pleased with our overall performance this quarter," said Michael Klayko, Brocade's CEO. "Strong demand, solid gross margins and some one-time expense savings led to increased profitability and helped generate $39 million in cash from operations."

Brocade reported fourth quarter net income of $1.1m, down from $20m in last year's fourth quarter.

Net income for the full year was $43m, which is a solid improvement over a $34m loss in 2004.

The company expects a healthy rise in revenue during 2006 to between $660m and $672m. ®