Aspen Technology Q2 Profit More Than Doubles, Results Beat View

(RTTNews) - Aspen Technology, Inc. (AZPN), a provider of software and services to the process industries, reported a profit for the second quarter that more than doubled from last year on strong revenue growth. Both revenue and adjusted earnings per share beat analysts' expectations. The company's shares gained almost 6 percent in extended trades.

Antonio Pietri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aspen said, "AspenTech continued to perform at a high level in the second quarter, with financial results that exceeded our guidance on all key metrics. Customer demand and usage patterns continue to be solid and helped drive year-over-year growth of over 13% in total license contract value."

The Burlington, Massachusetts-based company's net income for the second quarter increased to $23.26 million or $0.25 per share from $9.94 million or $0.10 per share in the year-ago period.

Excluding stock-based compensation expenses, adjusted net income for the quarter was $25.43 million or $0.27 per share, compared to $12.27 million or $0.13 per share in the same period last year.

On average, six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.17 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total revenue for the quarter grew 28 percent to $98.77 million from $77.31 million in the same period lat year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $88.53 million for the quarter.

Subscription and software revenue rose 28 percent from the previous-year quarter to $88.92 million, while services & other revenue increased 18 percent to $9.85 million.

Total contract value at the end of the second quarter, including the value of bundled maintenance, rose 15 percent from the year-ago period to $2.05 billion. The license portion of total contract value increased 13 percent from last year to $1.75 billion.

AZPN closed Thursday's trading at $41.60, up $1.14 or 2.81 percent on a volume of 547,142 shares. In after-hours, the stock further gained $2.38 or 5.73 percent to $43.98.