Verint Systems shares climb 8% on earnings report
Verint Systems, whose software is used by corporate call centers and government intelligence agencies, Wednesday reported fourth quarter earnings. Credit: Steve Pfost
Verint Systems Inc., a Melville maker of software used by call centers and intelligence agencies, Wednesday posted higher fourth quarter sales and profits driven by customer migration to "cloud" applications.
Verint shares climbed 8.4 percent to $55.85 in after-hours trading following the earnings release Wednesday.
The company, whose research and development arm is in Israel, reported revenue of $330.2 million in the quarter ended Jan. 31 versus $318.7 million in the prior year's period. Net income was $28.3 million, or 41 cents per diluted share, compared to $18.3 million, or 26 cents per diluted share, in the year-earlier period.
Verint accelerated its "automation and cloud innovation" in response to customers' demands, Verint chief executive Dan Bodner said in a statement.
The company also increased its forecast for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2020. Verint increased its revenue outlook by $25 million to about $1.37 billion and its earnings per share outlook by 10 cents to about $3.60.
Verint is Long Island's ninth largest public company based on fiscal 2017 revenue of $1.14 billion.
In January, Daniel Ives of Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities said in a research note that Verint is seeing a "discernible uptick in demand as more traditional contact centers move to the cloud."
Cloud software allows companies to receive hosted service over the Internet instead of running software in their own data center.
Verint's call center business accounted for revenue of $211.6 million in the fourth quarter, while the cyberintelligence unit totaled $118.7 million.
Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.
