8x8 Tops Q4 Expectations

reported better-than-expected earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter on Wednesday. The San Jose, California-based company reported quarterly net income of $183,000, or $0.00 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $1.9 million, or $0.02 per share. Excluding one-time items the company earned $0.05 per share. Its revenue climbed to $43.5 million from $35.8 million. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.04 per share on revenue of $43.13 million. The average estimate among 8 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.05 per share and revenue of $43.57 million. Average monthly service revenue per business customer rose 11% to $320, from $287, in the year-ago period. GAAP service margin widened to 81 percent from 79 percent, while overall gross margin rose to 73 percent from 70 percent. Monthly business service revenue churn shrank to 0.5 percent, versus 1.2 percent in the year-ago period. 8x8 ended the quarter with 41,621 business customers, a 10 percent rise from 37,933 customers in the year-ago period. "8x8 ended another record quarter and fiscal year with 26% fiscal 2015 revenue growth and non-GAAP net income of 10% of revenue," said 8x8 CEO Vik Verma. "We achieved these objectives while building a foundation for growth with the expansion of our senior management team and investments in R&D to capitalize on the significant and growing market opportunity for cloud communications solutions that exists worldwide." 8x8 projects full-year revenue of $193 million to $197 million, versus analysts' estimates of $193.8 million. 8x8 shares finished down 1.05 percent at $8.51 during regular trading hours.