Verint shares rise as LI company swings to profit

Verint Systems Inc. Wednesday swung to a profit for the first quarter on strength in its corporate analytics business, prompting the Melville software company to raise its forecast for the year.

The company posted net income of $28.8 million for the quarter ended April 30 compared with a loss of $7.9 million in the year-ago period. Diluted earnings per share were 51 cents versus a loss of 18 cents in the 2013 period. Revenue climbed more than 25 percent to $257.4 million.

"Our financial results and business activity for the first quarter have made us more optimistic about the year," chief executive Dan Bodner said in a conference call after the stock market close.

Verint shares climbed in after-hours trading, rising 6.78 percent to $49.75.

The company's results were boosted in part by the acquisition announced in January of KANA Software Inc. of Sunnyvale, California, for about $514 million in cash. KANA makes corporate customer service software.

"Our enterprise intelligence segment achieved year-over-year revenue growth of 47 percent including KANA's results, and 11 percent excluding KANA''s results," Bodner said.

Verint raised its revenue guidance for the year ending Jan. 31, 2015, by $30 million to a range of $1.11 billion to $1.16 billion. The company increased its outlook for diluted earnings per share by 10 cents to a range of $3.30 to $3.50.

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Daniel Ives, an analyst at Manhattan-based FBR Capital Markets, said the report indicates that the company "is in the early innings of a major growth cycle." Ives said the KANA acquisition gives Verint the opportunity to sell existing customers additional products.

"The fact that they raised their outlook speaks to their confidence in the product cycle," he said.

In addition to systems designed to help companies monitor and analyze customer contacts through phone calls, emails and mobile apps -- accounting for more than half of sales -- Verint makes software that helps customers catalog and search video streams and products that help government clients monitor digital communications.

In the conference call, Bodner announced a multiyear $100 million cybersecurity deal for its system that aims to pinpoint malware, identify the nature of the attack and determine ways to prevent further incursions.

"We believe that there's a cyberwar going on," Bodner said.