Cognos stock jumps 8 pct on solid earnings report
TORONTO (Reuters) - Shares in Cognos Inc. (Toronto:CSN.TO - news) (Nasdaq:COGN - news) jumped 8 percent on Friday, the day after the business software maker posted second-quarter results that beat both its own forecasts and analyst expectations.
Cognos was up C$2.92, or 8.2 percent, at C$38.34 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as the earnings prompted some analysts to raise their stock targets and ratings.
On Nasdaq, the stock was up $2.34, or 7.3 percent, at $34.28.
Cognos, Canada's largest software company, said it earned $23.8 million, or 26 cents a share, for the three months ended August 31. That compared with a profit of $24.9 million, or 27 cents a share, in the same period the year before, but topped analyst and company forecasts.
According to Reuters Estimates, analysts had expected Cognos to deliver 27 cents a share before exceptional items. It delivered 33 cents per share.
Revenue forecasts were also outpaced. Analysts sought $227.05 million for the quarter, while Cognos reported $229.9 million, up from $212 million a year earlier.
Earlier this month, Cognos said revenue would be about $228 million -- the top end of its original forecast -- and that earnings per share would exceed earlier expectations of 16 to 20 cents.
RBC Capital Markets, Paradigm Capital Inc., and Desjardins Securities raised their price targets, while BMO Capital Markets also raised its stock rating on the results.
"Cognos delivered a solid quarter that beat expectations," Desjardins said in a research note.
"License revenue growth was disappointing, but support and services revenue more than offset the license revenue's lackluster growth."
Desjardins increased its stock target to $38.00 from $33.50 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The Ottawa-based company, which makes business-intelligence and performance-management software, also announced a share buyback on Thursday.
($1=$1.12 Canadian)
*Reuters