Mortgage provider Ellie Mae (ELLI) gapped up in early Friday market action, following the release of their earnings report covering Q1 2014 after the bell the day prior. The report showed the company topped top and bottom line estimates, and also marked the second successive quarter in which Ellie Mae bested analyst expectations.
This quarter stands in contrast to the third quarter from 2013, in which Ellie Mae’s earnings were a severe disappointment. CEO Sig Alderman blamed the shortfall on a trio of unfavorable macro developments, ones that he expected the company to overcome.
And overcome Ellie Mae has, although the story has not been all roses the last six months. Despite consecutive earnings beats, the company has experienced some pretty significant volatility. The last earnings call in February caused shares to rise substantially before correcting sharply, only to see those gains re-realized following this most recent beat.
Despite the whipsaw action, Equities.com analysts are still bullish on the stock. Our analysts have been tracking Ellie Mae in the Small Cap Stars project since the beginning of the year. The company was rated five stars (the highest possible rating) for meeting all the sector-specific fundamental benchmarks they felt indicated Ellie Mae’s strong chance for growth.
For their first quarter 2014 earnings, Ellie Mae reported a net gain of $4.6 million, or $0.16 per share, versus the net gain of $7.6 million, or $0.27 per share, from the same period a year ago. Revenue for the quarter was $32.2 million, as compared to $30.9 million from the previous year. Analysts were expecting a net gain of $0.12 per share on revenues of $30.8 million.
The company also updated guidance for FY 2014, raising their revenue projections to the $150-$153 million range, slightly besting consensus estimates of $149.5 million.
By 1 PM EST shares of Ellie Mae were trading up 9.64 percent to hit $26.61 a share.
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