Novell once again exceeded analysts' estimates in its second quarter Tuesday, earning $38.7m (£23.6m) or 11 cents a share, on sales of $315.6 million. Its shares closed off 1/4 to 23 3/4.

First Call consensus expected the network software developer to earn 10 cents a share in the quarter.

The $315.6m in sales represents a 20 percent improvement versus the year-ago quarter when it earned $19.3m, or 5 cents a share, on sales of $262.2m.

"Novell is on its way to becoming a growth company again," said CEO Eric Schmidt in a prepared release. "We had planned for growth, but the market's response to NetWare 5 has exceeded our plans."

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