Looking at the overnight stock chart for Nuance Communications
The early pessimism sprung from management comments about timid consumer demand and the coming year's growth shifting toward its closing months. The reported results for the fourth quarter were nothing to sneeze at: Sales grew 18% year over year to $310 million. Earnings once again skimmed close to the break-even point at $0.01 per share, but when you start backing out non-cash adjustments like $40 million in depreciation and amortization, you end up with an impressive $102 million of free cash flow. That's just how Nuance rolls. I really don't see much to complain about in the first place.
But then there was the early-morning bump. First of all, Nuance announced a price-checking voice-search partnership with Amazon.com
No, the real boost came from overheated rumors that Apple
You'd think that sort of earth-moving event would rate a mention in the earnings release, for one thing. Moreover, Nuance is a member of the Open Handset Alliance -- it would be a bit awkward for Steve Jobs to buy his way into Google's
The stock has now climbed a market-stomping 30% over the last year, so investors shouldn't have much to complain about, either. Follow the rise of this voice-recognition and character-recognition software mogul by making an "outperform" call on the stock in your CAPS portfolio. I did it three months ago, and the pick is doing its part to keep my all-star status intact.