UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 8-K

 

CURRENT REPORT

 

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):

March 23, 2006

 

3COM CORPORATION

 

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware

 

0-12867

 

94-2605794

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation)

 

(Commission

File Number)

 

(IRS Employer

Identification No.)

 

350 Campus Drive

Marlborough, Massachusetts

01752

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

(Zip Code)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (508) 323-5000

 

 

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

 

 

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):

 

o    Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 

o    Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 

o    Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act

(17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 

o    Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act

(17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

ITEM 2.02

Results of Operations and Financial Condition

 

On March 23, 2006, 3Com Corporation (the “Company”) issued a press release regarding its financial results for its fiscal quarter ended March 3, 2006.  The full text of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1.

 

The information in Item 2.02 of this Form 8-K and the exhibit attached hereto shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such a filing.

 

The attached press release and the related conference call contain non-GAAP financial measures. In evaluating the Company’s performance, management uses certain non-GAAP financial measures to supplement consolidated financial statements prepared under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). Management believes these non-GAAP measures help indicate the Company’s baseline performance before gains, losses or charges that are considered by management to be outside on-going operating results. Accordingly, management uses these non-GAAP measures to gain a better understanding of the Company’s comparative operating performance from period-to-period and as a basis for planning and forecasting future periods. Management believes these non-GAAP measures, when read in conjunction with the Company’s GAAP financials, provide useful information to investors by offering:

 

the ability to make more meaningful period-to-period comparisons of the Company’s on-going operating results;

the ability to better identify trends in the Company’s underlying business and perform related trend analysis;

a higher degree of transparency for certain expenses (particularly when a specific charge impacts multiple line items);

a better understanding of how management plans and measures the Company’s underlying business; and

an easier way to compare the Company’s most recent results of operations against investor and analyst financial models.

 

These non-GAAP measures have limitations, however, because they do not include all items of income and expense that impact the Company’s operations. Management compensates for these limitations by also considering the Company’s GAAP results.

 

The non-GAAP operating loss measure used by the Company is defined to exclude the following charges and benefits: restructuring, amortization, in-process research and development and special items that management believes are unusual and outside of the Company’s on-going operations, such as, for the periods presented in the press release, executive transition and impairment. In future periods when FAS 123(R) is adopted by the Company, the Company would expect to also exclude the resulting stock-based compensation expense. Management believes the costs related to restructuring activities are not indicative of the Company’s normal operating costs. The restructuring charge consists primarily of severance expense and facility closure costs. Management also believes that the expense associated with the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets is appropriate to be excluded because a significant portion of the purchase price for acquisitions may be allocated to intangible assets that have short lives and exclusion of the amortization expense allows comparisons of operating results that are consistent over time for both the Company’s newly acquired and long-held businesses. Also, amortization is a non-cash charge for the current period. In addition, the Company has non-recurring in-process research and development expenses which are non-cash and related to acquisitions as opposed to the Company’s core operations. Executive transition costs and impairment charges are excluded because these activities generally do not occur to a material extent each quarter and therefore may not allow a meaningful comparison period-to-period of on-going operations. Executive transition expenses relate to the severance costs for the Company’s outgoing CEO and the hiring of its new CEO. Similar costs have not occurred for CEO transition for over five years. The impairment charge, which relates to the write-off of a software license for which no alternative use is available, is a non-recurring expense and is non-cash for the current period.

The Company is required by GAAP to disclose, in its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 3, 2006, pro forma consolidated revenue, net loss and net loss per share measures (as if its China joint venture, known as H-3C, had been consolidated from the beginning of the relevant period). The Company will also provide several additional pro forma consolidated measures--such as gross profit, total operating expenses, operating loss, and several selected consolidated balance sheet items. These additional measures are considered non-GAAP financial measures when presented on a pro forma basis. The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures are meaningful to investors because, as disclosed in the press release, the Company has determined it is appropriate to consolidate H-3C’s results. Accordingly, the Company’s future results will consolidate H-3C as described more fully in the press release. These measures therefore provide additional relevant information to investors about the Company’s consolidated operations. The non-GAAP measures, however, should not be considered indicative of the Company’s future consolidated performance.

 

The non-GAAP financial measures the Company uses are not prepared in accordance with, and should not be considered an alternative to, measurements required by GAAP, such as operating loss, net loss and loss per share, and should not be considered measures of the Company’s liquidity. The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. In addition, these non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similar measures reported by other companies.

 


ITEM 9.01

Financial Statements and Exhibits

 

(c)

Exhibits

 

Exhibit Number

Description

 

99.1

Text of Press Release, dated March 23, 2006, titled “3Com Reports Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2006 Results.”

 

 

 


 

 

 

SIGNATURE

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

 

 

3COM CORPORATION

 

 

 

 

Date:  March 23, 2006

By:

/s/ DONALD M. HALSTED, III

 

 

 

Donald M. Halsted, III

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

 

 

 


 

 

EXHIBIT INDEX

 

Exhibit Number

Description

 

99.1

Text of Press Release, dated March 23, 2006, titled “3Com Reports Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2006 Results.”