The Finextra50 Financial Technology Index rose 1.4% last week to close at 101.61. Despite disappointing earnings announcements dragging down share prices for a number of index constituents, companies such as Advent Software, SEI Investments and Interactive Data benefited from stronger than expected results.
Major gainers
Advent Software finished the index's strongest performer last week, closing up 12.63% to $54.47 after reporting that a 22% increase in sales and higher bookings had lifted the company's third-quarter profit.
Net income rose to $3.3 million, or 12 cents per share, from $952,000, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 21 percent to $55.5 million from $45.9 million in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of 7 cents per share and revenue of $53.7 million.
Interactive Data also saw a profit surge in the third quarter, and this saw its shares rise 11.02% to $32.03 last week. Earnings were up 47% to $39.3 million, or 40 cents per share, in the third quarter, compared with profit of $26.8 million, or 28 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2006, beating analyst estimates. Revenue rose 12% to $175 million from $156.7 million in Q3 2006.
SEI Investments also beat analyst estimates last week, as it reported Q3 earnings growth of 21%. Shares closed Friday up 10.78% to $30.42.
SEI earned $73.3 million, or 37 cents per share, in the third quarter, compared with profit of $60.5 million, or 30 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2006. Revenue was up 17% to $349.6 million from $298.1 million.
Other companies to see significant share price increases last week were:
- Morningstar up 8.80% to $74.29
- Gresham up 7.07% to 113.5p
- Jack Henry up 7.07% to $28.33
Major losersVasco Data Security fell 33.41% last week to finish at $25.01, just one week after hitting a 52-week high of $44.25. The rapid decrease in value can be attributed to the company's third-quarter results, which missed analyst estimates although still demonstrated a 60% revenue increase on the same quarter a year ago ($30 million from $18.7 million).
Vasco's net income for the third quarter rose 79% to $5.9 million, or 15 cents a share, from $3.3 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. But analysts had expected 17 cents a share.
A number of analysts have recently downgraded the stock, pointing to the company's order backlog and a slow-down in the rate of new customer signings.
Online Resources also missed analyst estimates, and as a result its share price ended last week down 29.03% to $8.53. It reported earnings of $3.1 million, or 4 cents per share, in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $1.3 million, or 13 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2006. But analysts polled by Thomson Financial had forecast profit of 7 cents per share.
The company offered a forecast of revenue growth for next year of 20%, which again is below analyst estimates. The company says it forecast is "tempered by a higher mix of volume-priced bill payments from large clients."
Other companies to lose ground last week include
IRESS Market Technology (down 7.84% to AUD$8.11) and
Linedata Services (down 4.97% to EUR13.00).
Index comparison
MethodologyMore information on the Finextra50 Financial Technology Index methodology and constituent stocks can be found
here.