Liberate reports increase in revenue

The San Carlos, Calif.-based company reported a loss of $112.5 million, or $1.06 per share, on revenue of $21 million for its fiscal second quarter, which ended Nov. 30. The net loss includes warrants and deferred stock compensation. In the same quarter a year ago, the company reported a loss of $68.4 million, or 66 cents per share, on revenue of $11.7 million.

Excluding the special charges, the company reported a loss of $6.3 million, or 6 cents per share, beating the consensus figure from analysts of a loss of 9 cents per share, according to First Call.

Liberate has exceeded analysts' expectations for 10 quarters in a row, and the company raised guidance on Thursday, for the second time in two quarters.

For the third quarter, ending Feb. 28, the company expects revenues to be in the $22.5 million to $23 million range. It sees a loss in the range of 6 cents to 7 cents per share, excluding special charges.

Liberate reiterated that it expects to reach profitability, excluding special charges, during the second half of next year.

The company reported cash and investments of $430.4 million.

Revenue growth was helped along by subscriber and deployment increases. There are about 2.4 million cable set-top boxes using Liberate's interactive TV software, the majority of which are in Europe.

Of the proposed Comcast and AT&T merger and its effects on Liberate, Kertzman said in a phone interview, "Comcast and AT&T are both customers of ours and both use the same version of our software…their merger can only be good for us."

Liberate also announced the appointment of Chris Bowick, chief technology officer at Cox Communications, to its board of directors.

Mitchell Kertzman is on the board of directors of CNET Networks, which owns News.com.