Investors looking for a hot sector of IT spending should look no further than data analytics. IT companies like IBM (NYSE: IBM ) and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL ) managed to generate growth with their analytics solutions. In addition, there is also a burgeoning opportunity for companies like Verint Systems (NASDAQ: VRNT ) and NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE ) to add analytics solutions to their core customer interaction capture solutions. Verint gave results recently, and there was much to suggest that the company’s prospects have a lot further to run in 2014.
Verint and fellow Israeli company NICE Systems are world leaders in developing hardware to capture customer interactions. However, it’s not just about product sales; both companies are developing the capability to offer software that analyzes that captured data. The idea is that customers will appreciate the opportunity to buy a total solution from one vendor, rather than a plethora of sellers across multi-platforms. It’s a compelling story, at least from the look of Verint’s latest results.
After having raised guidance for the third quarter, Verint promptly delivered revenue at the high end of its estimates. Moreover, fourth-quarter diluted EPS came in at $0.91, higher than the guidance of $0.81-$0.86. In addition, the company’s 2015 revenue guidance of $1.08 billion-$1.13 billion implies a growth rate of 21%. Furthermore, non-GAAP EPS is forecast to rise by more than 16% at the mid–point of its guidance.
