WebEx Jumps on Strong Q4

WebEx Communications (Nasdaq: WEBX) was up US$1.06 at $13.25 in morning trading Thursday after soaring past analyst estimates for the fourth quarter ended December 31st.

"We continue to see increased demand across multiple industries, geographies, and all sizes of corporations," said chairman and chief executive officer Subrah Iyar.

According to Iyar, the company is seeing "rapid adoption" of its services by customers across a variety of functions, including sales, marketing, engineering and other departments. As a result, Iyar said, WebEx sees "a very positive outlook" for its business in fiscal 2001.

WebEx, which provides technology that lets companies hold meetings over the Internet, reported a loss before stock-based compensation of 39 cents per share, beating analyst projections by 6 cents. A year earlier, the loss amounted to 48 cents per share.

Revenue for the quarter rose 879 percent from a year earlier to $11.2 million. The loss before stock-based compensation and warrant expense narrowed to $12.8 million from $15.8 million.

WebEx said it added a host of new customers during the quarter, including Abbott Laboratories, Coldwell Banker and the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Earlier this month, WebEx said that Texas Instruments hired it to enable employees to hold interactive meetings over the Internet, cutting back on travel expenses and making it easier to make decisions quickly.

"We've positioned WebEx for future growth by expanding our sales force, enhancing our network infrastructure and signing a number of new channel partners," Iyar said.

The company's partners include Agile Software, Alventive and Rational Software.