Jack Henry & Associates Profit Rises, Tops View

(RTTNews) - Payment processor Jack Henry & Associates Inc. (JKHY), Tuesday reported an increase in profit for the fourth quarter, driven largely by higher support and service revenues. Earnings and revenues for the quarter easily beat analyst expectations.

Support and service revenues, which contributes majority of total revenues, rose 14 percent to $269.9 million, as electronic payment services had the largest growth of 16 percent in the fourth quarter from a year ago.

Jack Henry, which provides ATM and credit card transaction processing, bill payment and other financial services, said revenues for the quarter grew 12 percent to $298.1 million from $266.6 million a year earlier. Analysts estimated revenues of $289.11 million for the period.

Monett, Missouri-based Jack Henry's fourth-quarter's profit rose to $47.7 million or $0.55 per share from $43.3 million or $0.50 per share a year ago. On average, seven analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.51 per share for the fourth quarter.

Gross margin, or gross profit as a percent of sales, was 42 percent in the fourth quarter compared to 41 percent in the same quarter last year.

JKHY closed Tuesday at $50.73, up $0.10 or 0.20%, on a volume of 0.3 million shares, on the Nasdaq.