Akamai's Q4 shines; new CFO, acquisition also announced
It's been a big day for Akamai Technologies, now topped off with a stellar quarterly earnings announcement that handily beats Wall Street expectations.
Akamai reported fourth quarter earnings of $60 million, or 33 cents a share (statement). Non-GAAP earnings were 45 cents a share on a revenue of $324 million, up 15 percent from the prior quarter.
Wall Street was looking for earnings of 40 cents a share on revenue of $311.2 million.
For the year, Akamai had a GAAP net income of $201 million, or $1.07 a share, and a revenue of $1.159 billion.
CEO and president Paul Sagan commented in prepared remarks:
Akamai posted record results in the fourth quarter, with accelerated growth across our business. We believe our Content Delivery and Cloud Infrastructure solutions are stronger than ever, and we look forward to further enhancing our Cloud Infrastructure portfolio with the completed acquisition of Blaze and the planned acquisition of Cotendo, which may close as early as the first quarter.
Earlier today, Akamai also made two other significant announcements. First, HP's former CFO of its Americas Technology Solutions Group, James Benson, signed on as Akamai's new chief financial officer. Benson is replacing J. Donald Sherman, effective March 1st.
Second, Akamai acquired Blaze Software, a provider of front-end optimization technology, to compliment Akamai's own acceleration solutions. Financial terms of that cash transaction have not been disclosed.
By the numbers:
- Full-year cash from operations was $453 million, or 39 percent of revenue.
- Akamai had over $1.2 billion of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at the end of 2011.
- Sales through resellers and sales outside the United States accounted for 19 percent and 28 percent, respectively, of revenue for Q4 2011.
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