Sun Microsystems (JAVA) announced a $1 billion share buy-back. It was not much of a beard to put on its particularly poor earnings.

Sun reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $88 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with $329 million, or 36 cents, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 1.4 percent to $3.78 billion, as the company puts up a losing struggle to compete with IBM (IBM), Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

What is astonishing is that the board does not put the company up for sale. It might make a good addition to Dell’s business. It is also surprising that CEO Jonathan Schwartz continues to keep his job. He has presided over falling revenue and a huge number of lay-offs.

Less than two years ago, Sun traded at over $26. It changes hands just above $10 now.

Douglas A. McIntyre