MERQ ( $44 up $48) Interactive Earnings, Revenues Higher
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (Reuters) - Mercury Interactive Corp. (NasdaqNM:MERQ - news), which sells products that test and monitor the performance of software that runs Internet programs, on Wednesday posted higher first-quarter earnings, as revenues grew 50 percent from a year ago.
Mercury Interactive shares ended the regular session down $1.71, or 3.7 percent, at $44.35, off their year high of $162.50. Following the company's results, the stock slipped a bit in extended trade on the Island system.
The software vendor, which did not join the parade of technology shops warning that their first-quarter results would disappoint, had net income of $16.1 million, or 18 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $9.8 million, or 11 cents a share, a year ago.
The results compared to analysts consensus estimate for earnings of 17 cents per share. Fifteen analysts polled had said the company would earn between 15 and 17 cents, according to market research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.
``Mercury Interactive's strong first-quarter results, despite a difficult economic environment, demonstrate the value of our testing and performance management solutions and the viability of our business model,'' said Amnon Landan, the company's chief executive and president.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said revenues for the period ending March 31 grew to $90.7 million from $60.4 million last year, as companies turned to Mercury Interactive's products to maximize return on their information technology (IT) investments.
Mercury Interactive competitors Rational Software Corp. (NasdaqNM:RATL - news) and Segue Software Inc. (NasdaqNM:SEGU - news) warned last week that their earnings for the same period would fall short of expectations as IT spending by U.S. companies slows with the flagging economy. Rational and Segue also are cutting jobs.
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