Back in the 1980s, Borland Software (NASDAQ:BORL) was a hot software company, even threatening mighty Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). But since then, the company has floundered despite numerous attempts at restructuring. It is in the midst of yet another restructuring, but Wall Street is skeptical.
In the third-quarter earnings report, revenues increased from $67.9 million to $82.4 million. Unfortunately, the company still cannot generate profitability; the net loss was $12.2 million, or $0.16 per share. This compares to last year's net loss of $5.3 million, or $0.07 per share.
Borland has three main parts to its business. First, there is the Deployment Product Group line of products, which is highly sophisticated software to handle server operations. This is a fairly mature market segment, and Borland mostly focuses on existing customers.
The growth for the company comes from its Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) division. Essentially, this helps companies with the process of creating, defining, developing, and delivering business applications. It's a big market, given that about 25% of information technology budgets go to custom-built software.
Borland has been investing heavily in ALM, both in terms of R&D and acquisitions, such as the purchase of Segue Software. And it's paying off: ALM revenues surged by 91% to $54.7 million in the third quarter. What's more, new software license revenue was up 115% to $29.7 million. This is an extremely positive sign, since these revenues generally lead to ongoing maintenance and service fees.
However, the big disappointment was that Borland decided not sell its tools division, which involves software that helps developers program in languages such as C++, Java, and so on. This is a tough market, with major competitors like Microsoft.
Instead, the division will become a wholly owned subsidiary called CodeGear. As a result, the company will yet again delay its path the profitability, as it will be rolling out a new brand, team, and R&D capability for CodeGear.
In light of Borland's history, investors are certainly in a "show me" mode. So, until the company achieves profitable growth, do not expect much interest from Wall Street.
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Fool contributor Tom Taulli does not own shares mentioned in this article. He is currently ranked 45 out of 13,0291 in CAPS.
