Avant! Blows Away Third-Quarter Estimates

Avant!(AVNT Quote) handily topped third-quarter earnings estimates, as sales of both software and services rose from a year ago.

The Fremont, Calif., software company said that before various charges, it earned $24.2 million, or 64 cents a share, in the third quarter compared with $18.5 million, or 45 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts were expecting earnings of 49 cents a share.

Revenue was $101 million, the first time the company had topped $100 million for a quarter, compared with $91 million a year ago. Software revenue was $59.5 million in the latest quarter, up from $55.0 million a year ago, while services revenue was $41.3 million in the latest quarter, up from $35.5 million a year ago.

On the bottom line, the company earned 45 cents a share compared with 50 cents a share last year.