Perficient 4th-qtr profit tumbles 83 percent

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Information technology consulting company Perficient Inc. said Friday its fourth-quarter profit tumbled 83 percent on one-time charges and lower sales.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Perficient earned $759,000, or 3 cents per share, compared with $4.5 million, or 15 cents per share, for the same quarter last year.

Excluding provision for income taxes, amortization, stock-option and impairment charges, the company posted an adjusted profit of $3.8 million, or 13 cents per share, compared with an adjusted $6.7 million, or 22 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Revenue fell 9.1 percent to $56.8 million from $62.4 million in the same quarter last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 15 cents per share, excluding the one time charges and stock-option expenses, on $54.4 million in revenue.

Services revenue excluding reimbursable expenses fell 8.6 percent to $49.2 million. Gross margin for services revenue fell to 32.6 percent from 39.2 percent in the year-ago quarter, mainly as a result of lower utilization.

Hardware and software revenue fell 2.8 percent to $4.6 million, while gross margin for that revenue rose to 24.5 percent from 15.4 percent.

In morning trading, Perficient shares rose 30 cents, or 8.6 percent, to $3.79.