What happened
Shares of CalAmp Corp. (CAMP +0.00%) were up 8.9% as of 2 p.m. EDT Friday after the machine-to-machine (M2M) communications specialist announced strong fiscal second-quarter results.
That's not to say CalAmp's results looked great on the surface. Quarterly revenue fell 0.8% year over year to $89.8 million, while adjusted net income declined 5% to $9.6 million. Adjusted net income per share was also flat from the same year-ago period, at $0.27. However, both the top and bottom lines were slightly above the midpoints of CalAmp's respective guidance ranges, which called for revenue of $86 million to $91 million and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.23 to $0.29.
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So what
Investors should also keep in mind that CalAmp's year-ago results included $6.7 million in revenue from its old Satellite segment, which ceased operations at the end of August 2016. Meanwhile, CalAmp's software and subscription services revenue climbed 5% to $15.7 million, and telematics systems sales increased 7.6% to $74.1 million. The latter included 29% growth in mobile resources management (MRM) telematics revenue, to $38.1 million.
As an aside, not included in CalAmp's adjusted (non-GAAP) results was a $15 million net gain from a legal settlement in June with a former LoJack supplier, which helped bolster the company's cash flow this quarter. CalAmp also told investors it expects to receive around $31 million of additional net proceeds from the settlement over the next year.
Finally -- and perhaps most encouraging -- CalAmp CEO Michael Burdiek noted the company expanded its relationship with a number of key customers. First, not only did CalAmp increase sales to Caterpillar to more than $10.5 million (good for a new quarterly record), but it also started shipments to another unnamed major global heavy equipment OEM during the quarter. In addition, CalAmp secured its largest-ever software-as-a-service (SaaS) contract win with a "blue-chip" freight transport customer to track its assets in North America. The deal should add 10% incremental growth to CalAmp's SaaS recurring revenue as it rolls out over the next few quarters.
Now what
Finally, CalAmp told investors to expect current-quarter revenue in the range of $89 million to $94 million, and adjusted net income per share of $0.27 to $0.33. For perspective, Wall Street was anticipating roughly the same earnings ($0.30 per share) on revenue of $90.8 million, which was just below the midpoint of CalAmp's guidance range.
All told, there was nothing not to like about this quarter from a long-term shareholder's perspective. Just as management promised a few months ago, CalAmp's business is gaining strength as the year progresses. And it's no surprise to see the stock up big as a result today.
