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Amdocs beats guidance: CEO Baharav: We're emerging from the global economic crisis in a stronger position than when we entered it. [Globes, Tel Aviv, Israel](Globes (Tel Aviv) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 5--Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX) after trading yesterday published its financial report for its 2009 fourth fiscal quarter and full-year. The company handily beat its own revenue guidance for the fourth quarter, and its first fiscal quarter guidance was also a favorable surprise. Amdocs posted $707 million revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter, 14.3 percent less than its revenue for the corresponding quarter of 2008, but above its guidance of $670-690 million. The company also beat the analysts' consensus of $679 million revenue. Non-GAAP net profit was $109.2 million ($0.53 per share) for the fourth fiscal quarter, down from $117.2 million for the corresponding quarter. GAAP-based net profit was $85.8 million ($0.42 per share) for the fourth fiscal quarter, up from $82.7 million ($0.54 per share) for the corresponding quarter. Amdocs had free cash flow of $166 million for the fourth quarter, and its 12-month backlog reached $2.39 billion at the end of September. The backlog includes estimated revenue from managed services contracts and support, as well as anticipated contract revenue. For the year as a whole, Amdocs posted 2.86 billion revenue, 9.5 percent less than in fiscal year 2008, the first decline in five years. Part of the decline was due to exchange rate movement. Non-GAAP net profit fell 12 percent to $438.9 million ($2.12 per share) in fiscal year 2009 from $499.6 million in 2008, while GAAP-based net profit fell to $326.2 million ($1.58 per share) from $378.9 million. Amdocs's streamlining plan of the past year, which included the firing of hundreds of employees enabled the company to reduce its operating costs by 9.5 percent. In its guidance for the first fiscal quarter of 2010, Amdocs expects GAAP-based earnings per share of $0.38-0.44 and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.51-0.55 ($104-5-112.7 million net profit) on $705-725 million revenue. The guidance is above the analysts' consensus of non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.50 on $675 million revenue. In its conference call, Amdocs president and CEO Dov Baharav said, that managed services and cable business were strong points in fiscal 2009, and predicted that this would hold in fiscal 2010 as well. Geographically, more than 75 percent of revenue in fiscal year 2009 came from North America, 14 percent from Europe, and the balance from the rest of the world. Baharav said, "We believe that we made the right investments that will drive our growth in the long term. During the recession, we strengthened our ties with important customers. We were the industry leader in terms of investment in R&D, and we continued to streamline. Consequently, we believe that we're emerging from the global economic crisis in a stronger position than when we entered it. Yesterday, Amdocs also announced that Philippine mobile service provider SMART Communications Inc. has deployed Amdocs ChangingWorlds software. Amdocs's share closed at $24.47 yesterday, giving a market cap of $5 billion. The share rose over 6 percent in after-hours trading. To see more of the Globes or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.globes-online.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Globes, Tel Aviv, Israel Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |