Like many other enterprise software companies, Radware (Nasdaq: RDWR) is struggling to find growth. Buying competitors may be the answer -- but only if the company can integrate its acquisitions quickly enough.
In the fourth quarter, Radware posted an 11% increase in revenues, to $21 million. However, expenses as a percentage of revenue rose across the board, which caused earnings to plunge from $4.3 million, or $0.22 per share, to $2.4 million, or $0.12 per share. The stock price fell 4.38% on the news, to $19.31.
Radware develops heavy-duty technologies to help improve the cost and performance of complex networks for more than 3,000 customers. For example, its products allow for fault-tolerant operation of Continental's (NYSE: CAL) online booking applications. American Tower also uses Radware for guaranteed network connectivity for business-critical applications.
However, Radware has difficulty finding new customers -- a problem shared by many high-end enterprise software companies. Software buyers are in a position of strength, as an abundance of high-quality options makes enterprise software almost a commodity. ASP-based models are another dilemma; companies like Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) have built the tech into their infrastructures, enabling them to profitably deliver their software as a subscription-based service rather than selling a physical product.
Is there a solution for more traditional firms like Radware? Oracle's (Nasdaq: ORCL) Larry Ellison thinks it involves buying other companies. His company has been pursuing that strategy over the past several years, although it hasn't done much for Oracle's stock price. It now appears that Radware is considering a similar approach. Last November, the company purchased V-Secure Technologies for $15 million in cash.
The purchase looks like a good fit. V-Secure provides highly sophisticated analysis of networks and powerful security. Its products offer real-time intrusion prevention against denial of service attacks, bandwidth consumption attacks, malicious scanning activities, worms, and so on. In fact, the intrusion detection and prevention market is growing at breakneck speed (50% in the past year, according to an IDC study).
With $164.5 million in the bank, Radware has plenty of cash to do deals. It'll need those funds to power growth with further acquisitions. Buying other companies always poses risks; integrating technologies is never easy, and often takes time. And in the enterprise software segment, investors have not proved patient thus far.
Fool contributor Tom Taulli does not own shares mentioned in this article.
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