Shares in Integrated Research Limited (ASX: IRI) are on skid row today after the company announced profit for the six months ending December 2015 is expected to be between $5.9 million to $6.5 million, compared to $7.5 million for the equivalent prior period.
Blame for the profit crash was placed on higher costs related to strategic investments and the recent acquisition of rival tech business IQ Services.
The good news is that revenues continued to grow at a decent 15%-20% over the equivalent half, with the company anticipating a strong second half and profit growth for the full financial year.
Integrated Research is involved in the provision of software services to more than 1,000 enterprise customers worldwide, including at least 120 Fortune 500 customers.
It appears to retain a decent outlook given its operation in growth areas of payment processing and software consulting, with the shares doubling in value since the end of 2014.
Product sales are growing strongly in the Americas where around 75% of all revenue is sourced. In total 95% of revenue is earned offshore meaning the company is a prime beneficiary of the falling Australian dollar, while as a technology business it has a potentially long growth runway into the future.
This morning the stock is down 11% to $1.89, which means the company trades on around 23x trailing earnings per share of 8.3 cents. It seems more growth is expected ahead therefore and investors will look for the company to deliver on its forecasts for a much stronger second half of the financial year.
