But the year-over-year comparisons will be better.

Analysts and merchandisers alike had been prepared for a poor year-over-year comparison, if only because Easter fell much earlier in 1994 than it does this year.

Some of that is due to easy year-over-year comparisons.

In a year-over-year comparison, productivity rose at a 5.1 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the biggest increase since the third quarter of 1983.

The quarter that ended in June was the last of four in which Legent's revenue helped improve Computer Associates' year-over-year comparisons.

Moreover, the year-over-year comparisons are against sales that were unnaturally depressed by the war last year, among other things.

But analysts cautioned against reading too much into the year-over-year comparison, because sales last December were so sluggish.

But that creates a problem, because as a consequence the year-over-year comparisons for the second half of this year are pretty tough.

Ms. Zheng said that China's strong growth in the fourth quarter would make the year-over-year comparisons look good at least through the first three quarters of this year.

"Our business improved each quarter last year, which will make year-over-year financial comparisons more difficult as we move into the second half of 1995," he said in a statement.