Openwave stock up on earnings progress

Shares of Openwave Systems Inc. jumped after the struggling company posted a slight increase in quarterly revenues.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based firm generated $48.1 million in revenues during the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $47.4 million during the year-ago period. Bookings for the quarter were $39.3 million.
But Openwave suffered a net quarterly loss of $61.7 million thanks largely to an impairment of goodwill write-down of $57 million and restructuring costs as it continued to streamline its business. Net income aside from those charges was $1.4 million, the company said, compared to a net loss of $9.3 million during the year-ago quarter.
The posting appears to signal Openwave’s progress in dramatically restructuring its business over the last year. The company spun off Musiwave to Microsoft Corp. for $46 million late in 2007 and last summer offloaded its mobile-phone software business to Purple Labs for $30 million.
“Openwave is running more efficiently with effective cost control, and improving sales pipeline and channel efforts,” CEO Ken Denman said in a prepared statement. “Our customers and partners are making more conservative, incremental purchasing decisions due to the current economic environment, however industry trends are still positive and moving toward Openwave’s products.”
Investors pushed shares of Openwave up 14 cents, or 23%, to 75 cents per share following the news.