Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Sun Microsystems Inc., the server computer maker whose shares have dropped more than 90 percent since peaking in 2000, plans a 1-for-4 reverse stock split.

If investors approve it, the move will take effect after the Nov. 8 annual meeting, the Santa Clara, California-based company said today in a regulatory filing. Reverse splits cut the number of shares outstanding and don't change the total market value of a company, increasing the value of the remaining stock.

Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Schwartz, who took over last year, helped Sun report its first annual profit in six years in July, cutting jobs and adding new products. Sun has fallen from a high of $64.31 in September 2000 after losing sales to International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

The split will boost Sun to ``a level we believe is more consistent with other major, widely held companies,'' and will add to per-share earnings, Chief Financial Officer Mike Lehman said in a letter to investors. ``The higher stock price should be well received by our customers and potential customers.''

Sun's operating margin will be 10 percent in the year ending in June 2009, and sales will rise in the low to mid single digits as a percentage during fiscal 2008, Schwartz said in a meeting with investors today. He reiterated the company's forecasts from July.

Sun may seek to buy software makers to bolster that business, Lehman said today, without naming any targets. The company created the Java software programming language, and changed its stock ticker to ``JAVA'' from ``SUNW'' last month.

Sun fell 13 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $5.37 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has fallen less than 1 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Amy Thomson in New York at athomson6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 5, 2007 16:26 EDT