After the close on Thursday, Red Hat (RHT: sentiment, chart, options) sauntered into the earnings spotlight to report a fourth-quarter profit of $22.9 million, or 10 cents per share, compared to its year-ago profit of $21.5 million, or 10 cents per share. Revenue during the quarter jumped 27% to $141.5 million. Excluding items, earnings would have come in at 20 cents per share. Analysts had predicted a profit of 19 cents per share on $141 million in revenue.

The shares of RHT are poised to gap higher this morning, as the security is up 5.5% in electronic trading. The stock has tumbled lower since putting in a near-term high of $25.25 in June 2007. Since that peak, the equity has created a series of lower highs and lower lows, losing more than 30% along the way. Any strength today could be hindered by the equity's declining 10-week and 20-week moving averages (at 17.80 and 18.80, respectively).

Heading into the earnings report, options players were relatively optimistic. The security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio rests at 0.58, as calls nearly double puts among near-term options. This reading is also lower than 70% of all those taken during the past year.

On the other hand, the stock could still benefit from upgrades from Wall Street. According to Zacks, 9 of the 12 analysts following RHT rate it a "hold," leaving ample room for potential upgrades following the company's stronger-than-expected report.