Thanks in part to demand for its newest product release -- Agile 9.2 -- and growth in the small and medium-sized enterprise portion of its business, Agile Software Corp. yesterday said it expects to report moderate revenue improvements and a smaller loss for its second quarter, which ended October 31.
Agile, in a preliminary statement of its second-quarter results, said it will report total revenues for the period of $32.5 million, up 3.2% compared to the $31.5 million the company reported in its second fiscal quarter last year. The figure was consistent with the guidance proffered by the company in September.
The provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software also said it expects to report a GAAP net loss for the second quarter of three cents per share. That is an improvement over the seven-cent-per-share loss reported in last year's second quarter.
Agile also said its software license revenues for the quarter are expected to be $10.5 million, which would be a 4% improvement from the year-earlier period. Similarly, maintenance revenues are expected to rise 5%, to $14 million.
Agile noted that the preliminary second-quarter GAAP income figure does not take into account potential non-cash charges for stock-based compensation expenses. The company is involved in a review of its stock option grant practices. Agile said that review could affect earnings-per-share results.
Agile recently said that the review so far has shown that incorrect measurement dates for stock option accounting purposes were used. In October, Agile said it will recognize unspecified non-cash, pretax charges for stock-based compensation expenses. The company has said it must revise certain financial statements from 2000 and later.
Agile's management was "generally pleased" with the preliminary second-quarter results, said Jay Fulcher, who in May took over as CEO of the company from Bryan Stolle. In a prepared statement, Fulcher credited record revenues from small and medium customers as well as improved professional services margins for the Agile's financial improvements. The company did not say when it would release final fiscal second-quarter results.
Fulcher also said customer adoption of Agile 9.2 "continues to go well and should spur more revenue opportunity for us the rest of the fiscal year."
Agile also notched several new-customer wins in the quarter. Companies purchasing new or additional licenses included B/E Aerospace, Jupiter Networks, and Siemens AG.
Agile officials have blamed a series of issues -- including sagging service revenues, restructuring expenses, and slow-to-close contract negotiations -- for what has been an pattern of quarterly losses over the past two years. The red ink has persisted while some of its competitors have prospered. (Read more about the upbeat performance recently posted by PTC and the mixed results recorded by UGS.)
In fiscal 2006, Agile reported losses in the first three quarters, followed by positive net earnings in the fourth quarter. In fiscal 2005, the company reported net losses in all but its third quarter.
Agile said it expects to hover at near the break-even mark in the upcoming third quarter. The company said it expects to report non-GAAP earnings per share of between one and two cents. (The non-GAAP figures exclude the cost of the review of Agile's stock option practices, stock compensation, and amortization of certain intangible assets.)
The company predicted third-quarter revenues of between $33.5 million and $34.5 million. That compares to revenues of $32.8 million in the third quarter of 2006.
Fulcher, soon after taking the helm at Agile, told Managing Automation that his goal was to grow Agile's revenues to the $200 million level by leveraging the company's position as a pure-play PLM vendor while extending its product line into new geographies and new markets via internal development and through acquisition. Agile's total revenues for fiscal 2006 were $132.7 million, up from the $117 million reported in 2005.