Caldera posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its third quarter Tuesday but only a 9 percent improvement in total sales from the year-ago quarter.
In the quarter, the maker of Linux-based Internet software lost US$7.5 million, or 19 cents a share, on sales of US$1.2 million.
First Call consensus expected Caldera to lose 24 cents a share in the quarter.
Ahead of the earnings report, Caldera shares closed unchanged at 6 1/2.
The US$1.2 million in sales marks only a 9 percent increase from the year-ago quarter when it lost US$2.2 million, or 13 cents a share, on sales of US$1.1 million.
Earlier this month, Caldera and Santa Cruz Operation inked a deal to transfer control of several divisions of the Unix firm to Caldera.
Caldera acquired SCO's server software division and professional services division, both of which will become part of a new holding company, Caldera.
SCO will have a 28 percent stake in Caldera, which will be backed by US$7 million cash and 17.54 million shares of Caldera Systems stock, worth about US$121.7 million based on the stock's closing price on Aug. 2.
Caldera officials said the larger third-quarter loss was a result of additional infrastructure investments as well as increased advertising and marketing expenses.
"We believe the integration of Linux/UNIX technologies will change the way business is conducted on the Internet," said CEO Ransom Love in a prepared release.
Last quarter, Caldera posted a loss of US$9.2 million, or 32 cents a share, on sales of US$1.4 million.
Caldera shares peaked at 33 shortly after its initial public offering in March. The stock fell to a low of 6 1/8 earlier this month.
Both analysts following the stock rate it a "hold."
