UPDATE: Nice Systems Posts Upbeat Q4 Earnings, Announces Resignation Of CFO

Shares of

gained more than 4% in pre-market trading after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and announced the resignation of Chief Financial Officer Dafna Gruber. The company posted quarterly non-GAAP net income of $61.6 million, up from $46.2 million, in the year-ago period. Excluding one –time items, the company's earnings rose to $1.02 per share from $0.75 per share. Its revenue climbed 9% to$294.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.94 per share on revenue of $292.1 million. For the first quarter, Nice expects revenue of $240 to $248 million and adjusted earnings of $0.66 to $0.72 per share. For 2015, it also expects revenue of $1.065 billion to $1.085 billion, and adjusted earnings of $3.06 to $3.20 per share. Analysts projected revenue of $1.154 billion and earnings of $3.33 per share for 2015. The company also declared a cash dividend of $0.16 per share for the fourth quarter, unchanged versus the third quarter. "I'm pleased to report a very strong finish to the year in which we reported 9% organic growth in fourth quarter revenues and a strong improvement in the operating margin that reached 25% for the fourth quarter," said Barak Eilam, CEO of NICE. "For the full year 2014, we achieved two major financial milestones for the Company: our revenue crossed $1 billion and operating margin reached 20%. We owe these strong results to a combination of the continued growth in our analytic solutions and the successful execution of our operational plan that we put in place earlier this year. This plan is to improve the business through flawless execution to drive growth in an efficient, effective, and profitable manner." Nice shares surged 4.07% to $52.90 in pre-market trading.