Integration Is Awesome

The founder and CEO of Tibco (Nasdaq: TIBX), Vivek Ranadive, has said that his software is a "must have" for corporate America. You see, Tibco's solutions allow for integration of complex information technology (IT) systems. As any chief information officer (CIO) of a major company will attest, integration is no easy task -- but it is a critical task. What's more, with the increased activity in mergers and acquisitions, integration will become even more necessary.

FedEx (NYSE: FDX) is one of Tibco's clients, using the technology to help manage the flood of deliveries throughout its global network. Its CIO recently called Tibco's software "awesome."

And Tibco's financial results also look awesome. The company's sales surged from $72.98 million (in the year-ago quarter) to $125.7 million in the recently completed fiscal fourth quarter. During this period, profits increased to $18.2 million from $7.6 million.

In the quarter, Tibco snagged more than 100 customers, including biggies such as Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) and EDS (NYSE: EDS). In fact, 16 deals were in excess of $1 million, which is a record for the company.

Tibco expects its growth to continue. The company forecasts first-quarter earnings at $0.08 a share on revenues of $116 million to $120 million. The fiscal-year forecast is for $0.36 to $0.38 a share in earnings and revenues of $515 million to $525 million.

In the conference call, Ranadive indicated that the company is getting more pricing power. A big reason is that competition has been mostly weak, the exception being IBM (NYSE: IBM).

In 2004, the enterprise software market as a whole wasn't strong; companies have been tight with their IT budgets. Ironically, this has been an opportunity for Tibco because it focuses on maximizing existing IT infrastructures.

Fool contributor Tom Taulli owns shares in Tibco. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.