During its fiscal first-quarter earnings call, IBM (NYSE:IBM) talked about weakened tech spending in North America, prompting investors to wonder how this might affect other software players. In Informatica's (NASDAQ:INFA) case, at least, that weakness seems nowhere in sight.
Informatica develops software that helps companies transfer data across competing systems from vendors such as Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) and SAP (NYSE:SAP). Its customers include Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), and TXU (NYSE:TXU).
Fiscal first-quarter revenues rose 19% to $87.1 million, and license revenues increased 15% to $37.6 million. The growth in license sales is a reflection of the 41 new customers Informatica picked up, repeat business from 176 customers, and larger transaction sizes. Those license revenues, as I've mentioned before in similar cases, should also lead to ongoing maintenance and services fees.
Net income increased 72% to $9.1 million, or $0.10 per share. Cash flow from operations was $26.8 million, and the company has about $432 million in liquid assets.
Informatica also won a $25 million judgment in a patent-infringement suit against Business Objects (NASDAQ:BOBJ). It's tough to predict how much of that sum it will ultimately receive, but the victory is one sign that Informatica can defend its intellectual property.
Management boosted 2007 earnings guidance by $0.10, up to $0.63-$0.68 per share. It also bumped the revenue estimate from a range of $365 million-$380 million to between $374 million and $484 million.
As mergers and acquisitions and global expansion increase, companies need Informatica's integration technologies to knit together differing systems. It's also helpful that the company keeps releasing new products to meet the customers' complex requirements. As a result, Informatica should enjoy decent growth in 2007 and beyond.
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Fool contributor Tom Taulli, author of The Complete M&A Handbook, does not own shares mentioned in this article. He is currently ranked 2,719 out of 25,386 in CAPS. The Fool has a disclosure policy.
