Big Deals for Wind River Systems
By
Linda Brewton
August 29, 2008
|
An improved sales model, more large deals, and continued traction in its Linux business contributed to increased revenue and earnings for device software vendor Wind River Systems (Nasdaq: WIND), whichposted solid results for its second quarter Thursday night.
Revenue grew 9% year over year to $91.9 million. Strength in the top line, combined with operating margins expanding to 15%, resulted in non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.17, easily beating analysts' expectations of $0.08. The company's strong year-over-year results are even more impressive when you consider that the previous year's numbers were boosted by out-of-the-norm one-time items. Management noted that part of its revenue strength in the quarter came from several large deals closing earlier than anticipated.
Wind River Systems exhibited particular strength in its Linux business, with Linux bookings and revenue up 115% and 60%, respectively, from the prior year. In addition, the company announced it will acquire Korea-based MIZI, a developer of mobile software for embedded Linux. The combination will leverage MIZI's expertise in telephony, user-interface design, and multimedia to further strengthen Wind River's mobile Linux strategy.
To that end, management noted that its participation in several groups dedicated to building better handset devices using open-source technologies has significantly expanded its Linux sales pipeline. For example, its affiliation with the Open Handset Alliance, comprising luminaries such as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), and Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), led to a design win in Q2 for Wind River with a major mobile operator.
Despite solid execution and management's confidence in the business, Wind River shares are trading down by more than 10% today. While analysts raised full-year estimates and price targets, their outlook for third-quarter earnings appears to be spooking investors. Given the company's outperformance in Q2, the slight moderation in Q3 revenue guidance does not appear unreasonable. Longer-term investors who can overlook quarter-to-quarter lumpiness in results might find a bargain in today's sell-off.
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