Ixia's Vision One traffic and application visibility appliance. Image source: Ixia.
What: Shares of application performance and security resilence solutions specialist Ixia (XXIA) rose nearly 28% Wednesday after the company announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter 2015 results.
So what: Quarterly revenue climbed 9% year over year to $138.5 million, and translated GAAP net income of $5.8 million, or $0.07 per diluted share. On an adjusted (non-GAAP) basis, net income rose 19.9% year over year to $18.7 million, and climbed 15.8% per share to $0.22.
Analysts, on average, were anticipating adjusted earnings of just $0.15 per share on revenue of $129.9 million.
Ixia CEO Bethany Mayer called it a "strong finish to a record year," then elaborated, "Our topline growth coupled with our continued focus on operational excellence and financial discipline drove significant earnings growth and the generation of nearly $100 million in cash flow from operations. We believe we are well positioned to execute our strategic objectives and are committed to returning value to our shareholders."
Now what: Relatedly, Ixia also announced its board has approved a new 12-month share repurchase program under which it can buy back up to $25 million in common stock.
During the subsequent conference call, Ixia management provided guidance as well. For the current quarter, Ixia anticipates revenue to be in the range of $121 million to $126 million, with GAAP earnings per share in the range of breakeven to a loss of $0.05 per share, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.10 to $0.14. By comparison, analysts' consensus estimates predicted adjusted earnings of $0.12 per share on revenue of $122.8 million.
In the end, this was an undeniably solid quarter from a promising company on the cusp of sustained profitability. In light of its earnings growth and with shares of Ixia currently trading at a reasonable 17 times this year's anticipate earnings, I think investors have every reason to celebrate its performance today.
