Higher revenue widens Acme Packet's 3Q profit

Acme Packet posts higher third-quarter profit on stronger sales

• On 8:04 pm EDT, Thursday October 29, 2009

BURLINGTON, Mass. (AP) -- Acme Packet Inc. said Thursday that stronger sales of its communications equipment and services helped its third-quarter profit nearly double.

The company also raised its outlook for the year to a profit of 34 cents to 35 cents per share. The previous guidance was 28 cents to 30 cents per share, excluding one-time charges.

Shares of Acme advanced 89 cents, or 9 percent, to $10.75 in after hours trading, after gaining 42 cents to $9.86 during the regular session.

For the three months ending Sept. 30, the company earned $3.6 million, or 6 cents per share, compared to $2 million, or 3 cents per share in the year-ago period.

Quarterly revenue was $36.3 million, compared to $28.4 million in the third quarter of last year. Excluding one-time charges, income was $5.7 million, or 9 cents per share.

The performance beat Wall Street expectations. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 7 cents per share on revenue of $33.9 million.