Investors Cheer Cognos' Quarter

For the full fiscal year 2005, Cognos earned $136.6 million, or $1.47 per diluted share, an increase of 35%. Revenue was $825.5 million, an increase of 21%.

In 2006, the company expects to earn a per-share profit of $1.55 to $1.62 on revenue ranging from $930 million to $950 million. Wall Street was projecting an EPS of $1.59 and $930.82 million in revenue.

Manley dismissed Microsoft's(MSFT Quote) recent push into the business intelligence market, saying waggishly, "Microsoft makes a big BI [business intelligence] announcement every year. Is there any news here?" More seriously, he said that Microsoft's products seem geared to the small- and medium-size business market, not the large enterprises targeted by Cognos.