Shares of Aliso Viejo’s Smith Micro Software Inc., a maker of cell phone software, soared Thursday, continuing a bullish run after the company gave a yearly sales estimate that topped Wall Street’s expectations.
The stock was up 20% in afternoon New York trading on a recent market value of about $190 million.
On Wednesday Smith Micro said it expects revenue of $95 million to $105 million for 2008. Analysts had expected about $102 million.
The company didn’t give a profit outlook.
“Looking forward to 2008, we expect another very strong year,” said Andy Schmidt, chief finance officer, in a conference call.
He said Smith Micro landed three deals with big cell phone makers, which weren’t named.
“Our revenue guidance is based on awarded contracts, not speculation of new contract wins,” Schmidt said.
The outlook came on the heels of Smith Micro’s fourth-quarter results, which were in line with expectations.
For the fourth quarter, Smith Micro reported $20 million in sales, up 16% from a year ago and in line with analysts’ expectations.
Including charges for taxes, stock compensation and acquisitions, the company posted $604,400 in profits, down 85% from $4 million a year ago.
Without the charges, Smith had profits of $7.5 million, down 6% from $8 million in the year-ago period. Analysts were looking for profits of about $6 million.
The company makes the software that runs the mobile music stores for Verizon Wireless, a unit of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp.
Smith Micro bought five companies in 2007 and closed the year with about $88 million in cash and assets.
