Software firm Altair Engineering late Thursday beat analyst estimates for earnings in the fourth quarter but sales were lighter than expected. Its sales guidance for the current quarter also missed views. ALTR stock fell in extended trading.
The Troy, Mich.-based company earned an adjusted 46 cents a share on sales of $171.5 million in the December-ended quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 41 cents a share on sales of $172.7 million. On a year-over-year basis, Altair earnings rose 48% while sales increased 7%.
For the current quarter, Altair predicted sales of $168.5 million, based on the midpoint of its guidance. Wall Street had been targeting $181 million for the first quarter. In the year-earlier quarter, Altair generated sales of $166 million.
However, its sales guidance for 2024 of $668 million matched views. In 2023, Altair's sales totaled $612.7 million, up 7%.
ALTR Stock Drops After Earnings Report
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, ALTR stock fell more than 2% to 87.75. During the regular session Thursday, ALTR stock advanced 3.4% to close at 89.86.
"We are seeing strong momentum across a number of verticals, where computational intelligence is becoming increasingly important," Chief Executive James Scapa said in a news release.
He added, "We are excited about our recent and upcoming product releases and believe that our investments in engineering AI are positioning us as a leader in this important and growing domain."
Altair provides software and cloud services for simulation, high-performance computing, data analytics and artificial intelligence.
ALTR stock is on two IBD stock lists: IBD 50 and Tech Leaders.
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