Polycom Swings To Q4 Loss, But Tops View; Shares Rise

(RTTNews) - Polycom Inc. (PLCM) on Wednesday posted a loss for the fourth quarter, hurt mainly by lower revenues and margins. Nonetheless, both earnings and revenues trumped Wall Street estimates, sending Polycom shares up five percent in after-hours trade on the Nasdaq.

San Jose, California-based Polycom reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.97 million or $0.01 per share, compared to a profit of $1.91 million or $0.01 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter dropped to $25.4 million or $0.16 per share from $30.7 million or $0.17 per share a year ago. On average, thirteen analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.15 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Polycom's revenues for the fourth quarter dropped to $347.9 million from $353.0 million last year. Twelve analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $341.58 million for the quarter.

Polycom's revenues from Asia region rose 4 percent for the quarter, however sales from Americas and Europe, Middle East & Africa dropped 3 and 5 percent, respectively.

Gross margin, or gross profit as a percent of sales, dropped to 56.6 percent from 58.6 percent last year.

San Jose, California-based Polycom provides standards-based unified communications and collaboration solutions for voice and video collaboration.

PLCM closed Thursday's trading at $11.77, down $0.11 or 0.93%, on the Nasdaq. The stock however, gained $0.59 or 5.01%, in after-hours trade.