UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

FORM 10-Q

For the quarterly period ended April 3, 2004

OR

For the transition period from ____________________ to ____________________

Commission File Number 0-15386

CERNER CORPORATION

2800 Rockcreek Parkway
North Kansas City, Missouri 64117
(816) 201-1024

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) with the Commission, and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Yes (X)           No (   )

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Yes (X)           No (   )

     There were 35,768,658 shares of Common Stock, $.01 par value, outstanding at April 3, 2004.

CERNER CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

I N D E X

     Part I. Financial Information

CERNER CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

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CERNER CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

2

CERNER CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

See notes to condensed consolidated financial statements.

3

CERNER CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

(1)

Interim Statement Presentation & Accounting Policies

The consolidated financial statements included herein have been prepared by the Company without audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in annual financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations, although the Company believes that the disclosures are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. It is suggested that these consolidated financial statements be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in the Company’s latest annual report on Form 10-K.

In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements include all adjustments (consisting of only normal recurring accruals) necessary to present fairly the financial position, and the results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. The results for the three month period are not necessarily indicative of the operating results for the entire year.

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 130, “Reporting Comprehensive Income,” establishes requirements for reporting and display of comprehensive income and its components. For the three months ended April 3, 2004 and March 29, 2003, total Comprehensive Income, which includes net earnings and foreign currency translation adjustments amounted to $14,028,000 and $5,131,000, respectively.

The terms of the Company’s software license agreements with its clients generally provide for a limited indemnification of such intellectual property against losses, expenses and liabilities arising from third-party claims based on alleged infringement by the Company’s solutions of an intellectual property right of such third party. The terms of such indemnification often limit the scope of and remedies for such indemnification obligations and generally include a right to replace or modify an infringing solution. To date, the Company has not had to reimburse any of its clients for any losses related to these indemnification provisions pertaining to third-party intellectual property infringement claims. For several reasons, including the lack of prior indemnification claims and the lack of a monetary liability limit for certain infringement cases under the terms of the corresponding agreements with its clients, the Company cannot determine the maximum amount of potential future payments, if any, related to such indemnification provisions.

On September 27, 2003, the Company adopted Financial Accounting Standards Board Interpretation No. 46 (“FIN 46”), “Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities an Interpretation of APB No. 51.” The Interpretation provides guidance on the identification of entities for which control is achieved through means other than through voting rights (“variable interest entities’” or “VIEs”) and how to determine when and which business enterprises should consolidate the VIE (the “primary beneficiary”). In addition, FIN 46 requires that both the primary beneficiary and all other enterprises with a significant variable interest in a VIE make additional disclosures.

The Company began consolidating the operations of Cerner Arabia Ltd (“Cerner Arabia”) in September 2003. Cerner Arabia is a software company located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Revenues are derived primarily from the sale of clinical, financial and administrative information systems and solutions. The consolidation of Cerner Arabia resulted in an increase to revenues of $317,000 and a decrease in net earnings of $64,000 for the three-month period ended April 3, 2004.

(2)

Earnings Per Share

Basic earnings per share (EPS) excludes dilution and is computed by dividing income available to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding for the period. Diluted EPS reflects the potential dilution that could occur if securities or other contracts to issue stock were exercised or converted into common stock or resulted in the issuance of common stock that then shared in the earnings of the Company. A reconciliation of the numerators and denominators of the basic and diluted per-share computations is as follows:

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Options to purchase 2,252,000 and 3,123,000 shares of common stock at per share prices ranging from $43.13 to $273.72 and $34.79 to $574.82 were outstanding at the three-months ended April 3, 2004 and March 29, 2003, respectively, but were not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share because the options’ exercise price was greater than the average market price of the common shares during the period.

(3)

Accounting for Stock Options

The Company applies the intrinsic-value-based method of accounting prescribed by Accounting Principles Board (APB) Opinion No. 25, “Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees,” and related interpretations including FASB Interpretation No. 44, “Accounting for Certain Transactions involving Stock Compensation, an interpretation of APB Opinion No. 25,” issued in March 2000, to account for its fixed–plan stock options. Under this method, compensation expense is recorded on the date of grant only if the current market price of the underlying stock exceeded the exercise price. Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123, “Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation,” established accounting and disclosure requirements using a fair-value-based method of accounting for stock-based employee compensation plans. As allowed by SFAS No. 123, the Company has elected to continue to apply the intrinsic-value-based method of accounting described above, and has adopted only the disclosure requirements of SFAS No. 123. The following is a reconciliation of reported net earnings to adjusted net earnings had the Company recorded compensation expense based on the fair value at the grant date for its stock options under SFAS 123 for the three months ended April 3, 2004 and March 29, 2003.

5

(In thousands, except per share data)

Pro forma net earnings reflect only options granted since January 1, 1995. Therefore, the full impact of calculating compensation expense for stock options under FAS 123 is not reflected in the adjusted net earnings amounts presented above, because compensation cost is reflected over the options’ vesting period of ten years for these options. Compensation expense for options granted prior to January 1, 1995 is not considered.

(4)

Business Divestiture

On March 15, 2004 the Company sold the referential content portion of Zynx Health Incorporated (Zynx) for $12 million. The Company retained the life sciences portion of the business, which is engaged in selling life sciences data to pharmaceutical companies for use in research, and the Company retained rights to use the Zynx content in its solutions going forward. The sale of Zynx resulted in a gain of $1,826,000, net of $1,197,000 of tax.

(5)

Receivables

Receivables consist of accounts receivable and contracts receivable. Accounts receivable represent recorded revenues that have been billed. Contracts receivable represent recorded revenues that are billable by the Company at future dates under the terms of a contract with a client. Billings and other consideration received on contracts in excess of related revenues recognized under the percentage-of –completion method are recorded as deferred revenue. A summary of receivables is as follows:

(In thousands)

The Company provides an allowance for estimated uncollectible accounts based upon historical experience and management’s judgment. At April 3, 2004 and January 3, 2004 the allowance for estimated uncollectible accounts was $12,648,000 and $12,056,000, respectively.

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(6)

Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets

Goodwill and intangible assets with indefinite lives are evaluated for impairment annually or whenever there is an impairment indicator. All goodwill is assigned to a reporting unit, where it is subject to an impairment test based on fair value. The Company’s 2003 review of goodwill was completed in the second quarter of 2003 and indicated that goodwill was not impaired.

The Company’s intangible assets, other than goodwill or intangible assets with indefinite lives, are all subject to amortization and are summarized as follows:

(In thousands)

Aggregate amortization expense for the three months ended April 3, 2004 and March 29, 2003 was $2,261,000 and $3,018,000 respectively. Estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the next five years is as follows:

The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill for the three months ended April 3, 2004 are as follows:

(7)

Contingencies

As previously disclosed, the Company received notice in April 2003 that three shareholder class action lawsuits were filed against it and five of its officers in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Subsequently, five additional shareholder class action lawsuits were filed against the Company. All of these lawsuits were filed after a decline in the Company’s stock price following the Company’s announcement on April 3, 2003 that the Company would not meet revenue and earnings estimates for the first quarter of 2003.

On August 20, 2003, the Court ordered that all of the lawsuits be consolidated under Case No. 03-CV-00296-DW and appointed Phil Crabtree as Lead Plaintiff. On December 1, 2003, the Lead Plaintiff filed a Consolidated Class Action Complaint. In general, the consolidated complaint alleges that, during a class period commencing as of July 17, 2002 and ending April 2, 2003, the Company and individual named defendants misrepresented or failed to disclose certain factors, which they allege impacted the Company’s business and anticipated revenue and earnings, all allegedly in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the

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Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Company believes that all the claims asserted in the Consolidated Amended Complaint are without merit and intends to vigorously defend those claims.

On February 9, 2004, the Company and the individual defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the consolidated Complaint. The parties have completed briefing the legal issues presented by the Motion to Dismiss. The Company does not know when the District Court will decide the Motion or what the ruling may be. However, no discovery in the litigation will commence until the District Court rules on the Motion to Dismiss and, if the Motion is denied, the Company and the individual defendants have filed their Answers to the Consolidated Amended Complaint.

(8)

Segment Reporting

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 131, “Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information” establishes annual and interim reporting standards for operating segments of a company. It also requires entity-wide disclosures about the products and services an entity provides, the material countries in which it holds assets and reports revenues, and its major clients. In 2003, the Company organized geographically. The Company’s six geographic business segments are: Great Lakes, Mid-America, North Atlantic, Southeast, West and Global.

Revenues are derived primarily from the sale of clinical, financial and administrative information systems and solutions. The cost of revenues includes the cost of third party consulting services, computer hardware and sublicensed software purchased from computer and software manufacturers for delivery to clients. It also includes the cost of hardware maintenance and sublicensed software support subcontracted to the manufacturers. Operating expenses incurred by the geographic business segments consist of sales and client service expenses including salaries of sales and client service personnel, communications expenses and unreimbursed travel expenses. Performance of the segments is assessed at the operating earnings level and, therefore, the segment operations have been presented as such. “Other” includes revenues not generated by the operating segments and expenses such as software development, marketing, general and administrative and depreciation that have not been allocated to the operating segments. The Company does not track assets by geographical business segment.

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Accounting policies for each of the reportable segments are the same as those used on a consolidated basis. The following table presents a summary of the operating information for the three months ended April 3, 2004 and March 29, 2003: