8x8 sets revenue record in Q1 2012, meets earning expectations

Hosted VoIP provider 8x8 (NASDAQ:EGHT) had another strong quarter, reporting its first quarter of fiscal year 2012 set record revenue levels for the quarter of $18.5 million, 10 percent better than the $16.8 million it reported a year ago. 8x8 said its earnings were $1.9 million, or 3 cents per share, which was in line with analyst estimates for the quarter, and nearly double its earnings in the first quarter of 2011.

During the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, 8x8 said, business customer churn decreased slightly to a record low of 2.1 percent, compared with a churn rate of 2.3 percent in the previous quarter and 2.5 percent for the same period last year. 8x8 ended the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 with 25,455 business customers.

The company said the quarter also was noteworthy as it acquired Zerigo and adopted the VCE Vblock platform, which will help it expand its capabilities in the cloud computing sector.

"Revenue from our cloud communications offerings continued to grow while customer churn from these services decreased even further to a record 2.1 percent," said 8x8 Chairman & CEO Bryan Martin.

The company said it had $18.9 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments compared with $18.1 million a year ago.

The market today responded favorably to 8x8's report, sending the stock up 4.24 percent, or 21 cents, to $5.16.

Last quarter, 8x8 saw revenues increase 15 percent year-over-year, to $18.2 million, but missing analysts' predictions of $18.44 million.

For more:
- see this release

Related articles:
8x8 sees record revenue in Q4, earnings rise 80%
8x8 sees healthy demand--and revenue stream
8x8 reports earnings, grows business customer rev 21%
8x8's business revenues grew 19% year over year
8x8 expands cloud services, buys Zerigo