RightNow profit surges but shares fall on forecast profit forecasts below analysts’ estimates

RightNow profit surges but shares fall on forecast

BOZEMAN, Mont. — RightNow Technologies Inc.’s quarterly profit nearly quadrupled as sales of its customer-management software leaped. Still, its shares fell on a disappointing profit forecast.

RightNow said after the market closed Wednesday that it earned $2.6 million, or 8 cents per share, in the last three months of 2009. That compares with net income of $692,000, or 2 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding stock-based compensation expenses and a gain from a legal settlement, the company earned 10 cents per share in the latest period. That easily topped analysts’ expectation for 6 cents per share in profit on that same basis, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue jumped 15 percent to $41.6 million. That was ahead of analysts’ projection of $39.8 million in revenue.

For all of 2009, the company earned $5.9 million, compared with a $7.3 million loss last year. Revenue rose 9 percent to $152.7 million.

The company’s profit forecasts were below analysts’ expectations.

In the first quarter of 2010, the company expects net income of 6 cents per share to 8 cents per share, excluding items. Analysts were expecting 9 cents per share. For all of 2010, the company sees a profit of 39 cents per share to 45 cents per share, excluding items. Analysts were expecting 47 cents per share.

Revenue forecasts for those periods were ahead of projections, however.

In the first quarter, the company sees revenue of $42 million to $42.5 million. For the full year, it expects revenue of $175 million to $180 million.

The stock fell 52 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $16 in extended trading. It had closed up 25 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $16.52 during the regular session.