Blackboard's 4Q adjusted profit meets estimates

WASHINGTON - Educational software company Blackboard Inc. posted a lower fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, but adjusted earnings met Wall Street expectations and its fiscal 2009 forecast topped analyst predictions.

Shares rose $2.20, or more than 9 percent, to $26.53 in aftermarket electronic trading, having closed the regular session at $24.33. The company provides software for online learning, meal plans and other educational functions to schools, universities and textbook publishers.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, profit declined to $3 million, or 9 cents per share, from $4.2 million, or 14 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, adjusted profit totaled 28 cents per share in the latest period.

Sales jumped to $85 million from $63.2 million, boosted by a 35 percent rise in product revenue.

The results matched estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

For the full year, profit dropped to $2.8 million, or 9 cents per share, from $12.9 million, or 43 cents per share, last year. Sales rose 30 percent to $312.1 million from $239.4 million.

Looking ahead, Blackboard forecast first-quarter adjusted earnings between 21 cents and 27 cents per share and sales between $83.5 million and $86.5 million. For fiscal 2009, adjusted earnings per share are expected range between $1.34 and $1.57 on sales of $361 million to $373 million.

Analysts have predicted quarterly profit of 24 cents per share and $85.7 million in revenue, and full-year earnings per share of $1.18 on revenue of $369.2 million.

"Even with the challenging economy, our business is well positioned and we believe in 2009 we can continue to deliver strong revenue growth with expanding operating margins," said Michael Chasen, chief executive and president of Blackboard, in a statement.

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