Comverse posts surprise 1Q loss, shares slide
NEW YORK—Comverse Technology Inc., which makes voicemail and cellphone billing software, said Thursday that its fiscal first-quarter loss narrowed because last year's quarter was weighed down by a larger amount of one-time charges.
But shares slid as the New York company posted a loss in its biggest business, when Wall Street expected a profit, and revenue came in about 9 percent below analysts' prediction.
For the quarter ended April 30, Comverse posted a loss of $53.2 million, or 24 cents per share, compared with a loss of $59.2 million, or 29 cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding one-time costs related to cutting jobs, complying with financial regulations, paying employees in stock and other items, the company said it posted an adjusted loss of 15 cents per share, compared with 3 cents per share a year ago. Analysts expected a profit of 9 cents, according to a FactSet poll.
Revenue fell 2 percent to $343.7 million from $349.5 million. Analysts expected $376.9 million in revenue
Revenue at the company's principle subsidiary fell 16 percent to $137.8 million, in part because of effects of the company's restructuring efforts that began last year. The company plans to spin off the unit, called Comverse, as an independent public company this fall.
Comverse shares fell 36 cents, or 6 percent, to $5.71 in morning trading, earlier hitting their lowest point September 2010 at $5.40. Shares had ranged from $5.73 to $7.80 in the past 12 months.
