The stock market has made a solid move higher this week, with investors coming into Friday with an eye toward seeing what implications the employment situation in the U.S. will have on the economy going forward. Optimism reigned on Wall Street as most market participants believed the upward momentum for major market benchmarks would continue. As of 8 a.m. EDT Friday morning, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +2.49%) were up 46 points to 35,470. S&P 500 (^GSPC +2.91%) futures were up 8 points to 4,543, and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +3.83%) futures had picked up 24 points to 15,625.
Some stocks that had news Thursday night or early Friday morning got a jump on the action by seeing big price moves. Both Ooma (OOMA +1.40%) and Guidewire Software (GWRE +3.29%) offer software as a service as part of their broader offerings to clients, and both stocks gained ground to help bolster the overall market. Below, we'll look at what had the stocks climbing higher in premarket trading Friday.
Ooma makes the right call
Shares of Ooma were up almost 7% in premarket trading on Friday. That added to gains of 3% the previous day, as investors reacted positively to the second-quarter financial results that the communications platform provider announced late Thursday.
Ooma's numbers reflected solid demand for its services. Revenue climbed 14% from year-ago levels to $47.1 million. Net income pushed higher by more than 6% to $3.3 million on an adjusted basis, and adjusted earnings of $0.13 per share topped expectations among those following the stock by $0.04.
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Ooma is still quite small, but it's been profitable for a while, and it's looking to expand in several different directions. On one hand, the communications provider wants to continue serving the small business customers that it initially focused on by providing services that have previously been available only to larger businesses. At the same time, Ooma wants to capitalize on the large enterprise market, which can generate substantial sales.
Ooma's guidance for the future was also encouraging, with third-quarter sales likely to come in between $47.8 million and $48.5 million and full-year revenue of $188.5 million to $190 million. Both numbers showed a steeper growth path than most expected, and that bodes well for Ooma's longer-term prospects as well.
Guidewire keeps heading toward the cloud
Meanwhile, shares of Guidewire Software were up almost 6% in premarket trading Friday. The software platform provider specializing in serving property and casualty insurance companies continued to make progress in its transition toward the cloud, with Guidewire's fiscal fourth-quarter financials reflecting considerable success.
As with many companies going through cloud transitions, total revenue growth was minimal, with sales rising less than 1% to $743 million for the full 2021 fiscal year. However, subscription and support revenue jumped 24% year over year, reflecting the recurring revenue that a subscription-based model brings to the table. As of fiscal year-end, Guidewire's annual recurring revenue was $582 million, up 13% from a year ago. Adjusted earnings of $0.49 per share for the year were down from fiscal 2020 levels but close to double what most investors were looking to see from Guidewire.
Guidewire has been able to get many insurers to buy into its cloud transformation, including a record 17 core cloud deals closed in the past three months. The company's InsuranceSuite product is gaining steam, and substantial cloud migrations among longer-term clients have all helped boost recurring revenue.
The financial industry has been a hotbed of activity for tech companies, and Guidewire is doing a good job of serving insurance providers. That could provide continued growth for years to come.
