IWOV ($9.50 up $12 ??) Meets Estimates, Drops Expectations
By Ilaina Jonas
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Interwoven Inc. (Nasdaq:IWOV - news), one of the few software producers that did not warn of lower-than-expected earnings, on Tuesday posted first-quarter profits, excluding charges, that met Wall Street's outlook but said the downturn in the U.S. economy will affect its next quarter and full-year revenues.
Interwoven, a creator of software to manage the flow of Web page content, said it earned $2.3 million, or 2 cents a share, in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $2.2 million, or 2 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. The results exclude the effect of non-cash charges related to stock-based compensation and acquisition-related charges.
All 12 analysts who issued their outlooks expected the company to earn 2 cents a share in the first quarter, according to research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.
Including charges, the company lost $24 million, or 25 cents a share, versus a loss of $3 million, or 3 cents a share, last year.
The company said it generated $60.5 million in revenue in the quarter, compared with $13.9 million in the year-ago period.
Yet, President and Chief Executive Martin Brauns said the company saw the number of new customers fall to 91 instead of the expected 100 and prospective deals shrink in size or delayed. Still, about a third of the deals came from overseas.
``We had a good dozen deals push out into Q2,'' Brauns said.
Second-Quarter Revenues Revised Down
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based leader in content management revised downward its guidance for the second quarter and now sees revenues between $53-54 million, less than it generated in the first quarter and well off the analysts consensus of $58.72. Estimates ranged from $58.3 million to $59 million.
Earnings before charges are expected to be from $500,000 to $600,000, or a penny a share, Chief Financial Officer David Allen said.
However, based on interviews with customers, Brauns said he expects revenue to improve in the third and fourth quarters. The year should end with revenues between $240-$250 million, down from the $272 Wall Street expected, according to First Call. Earnings should be about $9.5 million, or 8 cents a share, below the consensus of 12 cents a share, while estimates ranged from 14 cents a share down to 4 cents a share.
``I think they are being very cautious,'' Jeanette Sing, analyst with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, said. ``They'd rather be conservative and come back and beat the numbers than be aggressive and miss their numbers.''
In after-hours activity on the Instinet electronic brokerage, shares of Interwoven traded at $12, up from its closing price of $11.37, up nearly 14 percent.
Since its all-time high closing price of $65.44, Interwoven shares have swooned, losing nearly 85 percent of their value. Shares have underperformed the Standard & Poor's software index by 79 percent, even as its peer group has fallen nearly 30 percent.
Interwoven also said it would offer employees a plan to exchange existing options for newly issued options on a two-for-one basis, exchanging two old options for one new share to be granted at a future date, with a new exercise price that will be based on the fair market value at the time of the grant. |
