Compuware Q4 Profit Tops View, But Revenues Miss

(RTTNews) - Software company Compuware Corp. (CPWR) reported Thursday a profit for the fourth quarter compared to a loss last year, which was weighed down by hefty goodwill impairment charges. Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operation topped analysts' expectations, while quarterly revenues missed their estimates. The company also provided earnings and revenue guidance for the full-year 2015.

The Detroit, Michigan-based technology performance company reported net income of $20.25 million or $0.09 per share for the fourth quarter, compared to a net loss of $63.65 million or $0.30 per share in the prior-year quarter, which primarily included goodwill impairment charges of $0.33 per share.

Income from continuing operations grew to $8.12 million or $0.04 per share from $3.22 million or $0.01 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted net income from continuing operations for the quarter was $22.10 million or $0.10 per share, compared to $18.18 million or $0.08 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.08 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total revenues for the quarter edged down 0.5 to $183.45 million from $184.44 million in the same quarter last year, and missed four Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $211.23 million.

Software license fees grew 5.8 percent to $43.67 million, while maintenance fees declined 1.3 percent to $87.68 million from last year.

Subscription fees decreased 2.6 percent to $19.81 million, and professional services fees dropped 4.4 percent to $7.89 million from the year-ago quarter. Application services fees or Covisint revenues edged down 5.1 percent to $24.40 million from the year ago.

"The key takeaways from our fiscal 2014 results are that our core APM and Mainframe businesses have strengthened and are getting stronger. Also, we have made tremendous progress on our cost rationalization initiative, exceeding our expense-reduction goal by 25 percent for the year," CEO Bob Paul said in a statement.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, the company expects adjusted earnings in a range of $0.41 to $0.45 per share, on projected revenues between $720 million and $735 million. Street is currently looking for full-year 2015 earnings of $0.42 per share on annual revenues of $762.13 million.

"We are now focused on building on this momentum in fiscal 2015 by continuing to drive growth and profitability in APM while further stabilizing Mainframe; completing our comprehensive business optimization work; and delivering even greater return to shareholders through additional capital return opportunities," Paul added.

CPWR closed Thursday's regular trading session at $10.39, down $0.03 or 0.29% on a volume of 1.50 million shares.