Whoa! What Just Happened to My Stock?

New frontiers in investingIP-based communications software provider BroadSoft surprised everyone when its revenues report trashed analyst expectations. With licensing earnings doubling and service earnings jumping 70%, the company that operates various VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services and helps businesses interact with their clients and customers via Web-based protocols generated profits of $11 million in the fourth quarter. Full-year profits were a 180-degree turnaround from the loss it recorded in 2009.

Growing portion of BroadSoft's earnings

Verizon represents a growing portion of BroadSoft's earnings, accounting for 15% of the total, up from 10% in the year-ago period. As telecoms transition to 4G networks, BroadSoft ought to find more business for its software solutions, now it's as well going to increasingly run into free, IP-based communication tools like Skype, JaJah, Vonage, and Google's Voice research.

The kind of growth it experienced was presaged by the experience of 8x8, which saw earnings grow 12% last quarter as the burgeoning VoIP market expanded. It's been building support by integrating VoIP, fax, Web conferencing, and chat into one solution for small and medium-sized businesses, and is untethering executives from their desks by creating an app for the iPhone and Android platforms that positions the landline on these smartphones so clients feel they're calling the users' office, when it's as a matter of fact their cell.

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