After spending much of the past year stuck between a two- and three-star rank, LivePerson (Nasdaq: LPSN) has impressed enough top-performing members of our 160,000-strong Motley Fool CAPS community to climb all the way up to four stars. A total of 239 members have given their opinion on the online help services firm, with many of them offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.

With LivePerson's ability to help its customers increase sales conversion rates with its software and services, many CAPS members see solid growth continuing as more customers adopt its platform going forward. The live-chat company has seen improvement in many areas of its business as it swung to a profit and exceeded analyst expectations in the fourth quarter, with revenue growing 26%. And full-year 2009 free cash flow saw a sharp increase over the previous year.

The company already counts major technology companies such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Hewlett-Packard on its roster of customers, but it is also partnering with some tech giants as well -- LivePerson teamed up with Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) subsidiary Genesys last year to further improve its ability to drive sales for clients. And in the fourth quarter, it added 14 new large enterprise clients while expanding its business with existing clients like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ).

After surviving a harrowing IPO right in the midst of the dot-com meltdown of 2000, shares of LivePerson have plodded along but recently have surged skyward to reach levels not seen in nearly a decade. And as more consumers conduct transactions online, investors still see lots of profit potential in software-as-a-service companies like LivePerson and competitor Art Technology Group (Nasdaq: ARTG) -- which coincidentally inherited a legal tussle with LivePerson when it acquired InstantService earlier this year.

salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) recently got the market buzzing with its move to bring social networking to the enterprise with its new Chatter product, so it's no surprise many investors see LivePerson's leverage of social networking to help drive business for its clients as a big positive, too. With on-demand software and social networking still in its formative stages, some CAPS members think the small-cap Rule Breakers pick has plenty of long-term potential.   

Do you think LivePerson deserves its raised status? Add your thoughts in the comments box below on this page, or head over to CAPS to rate the company.