The world's leading provider of open source solutions, Red Hat Inc on Wednesday said its continues rising first quarter drove by its open source products amid the economic downturn has bought back $47 million of its common stock in the quarter.

It pulled in $174 million in its fiscal 2009 first quarter revenue, up 11 percent from $156 million in a year earlier and net income increase of $18.5 million or $0.10 per shares ended May 31 from $17.3 million or $0.08 per share in the same period ago.

Analyst estimates earning per shares of $0.14 to $171.8 million from non-GAAP profits of $0.15 per shares, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Red Hat's growth is driven in part by our ability to help enterprise customers save money in a challenging IT spending environment. Our open source solutions drive new capabilities, efficiencies and functionality into the mission critical infrastructure of our customers, Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO said.

Meanwhile its shares rose $0.50 or 2.55% at $20.13 in the afternoon trading.

Software