Living up to its name, Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS) announced promising quarterly results earlier this week, driving shares 8% higher to $30.44. With several major products now hitting the market, it's a good bet the company's progress will continue.
Progress develops software that helps customers build business applications. More than 60,000 organizations use its programs, including Home Depot (NYSE:HD), IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE), Siemens (NYSE:SI), and even the Queen Mary 2.
The business boasts steady performance, growing revenues 11% to $115.2 million in the fiscal first quarter. License revenues rose 5% to $44.7 million; these sales should also lead to ongoing maintenance and service fees. Progress also increased its net income by 48% to $8.7 million, or $0.20 per share.
Progress benefits from its loyal customer base, which helps to reliably boost sales of new versions of its software. The company recently launched OpenEdge 10.1B to deal with large amounts of data. Its DataXtend line of products further addresses a growth area known as service-oriented architecture (SOA), which uses the power of the Internet to connect different systems. As mergers and acquisitions increase, companies are relying more and more on SOA technology.
Progress forecasts 2007 revenues of $470 million to $480 million. That puts the company's valuation at about 2 times enterprise value, in line with other enterprise-software companies. However, when you factor in the company's strong product pipeline, there might well be even more upside ahead for this stock.
Further forward-facing Foolishness:
Fool contributor Tom Taulli, author of The Complete M&A Handbook, does not own shares mentioned in this article. He is currently ranked 1,590 out of 24,619 in Motley Fool CAPS.
