Acme Packet’s Q4 Outshines Competitors

Session border controller maker Acme Packet Inc. (APKT) is focusing more on the mobile and enterprise markets, leading analysts to predict the company will fare comparatively well in 2009.

Acme Packet reported its fourth-quarter 2008 earnings on Thursday; net income fell 29 percent, but revenue grew by 8 percent. Profit fell to $3.7 million, down from $5.2 million in 2007’s fourth quarter, while sales increased to $30.6 million.

The numbers were in line with annual guidance provided by research firm ThinkPanmure, wrote analyst Eric Kainer in a Feb. 6 note to clients.

“In this environment, it was a good quarter considering the devastation across the industry, notably at larger pure-play competitor Sonus Networks,” Kainer wrote.

And Acme Packet is doing its part to ensure it survives the recession. The company is targeting the mobile sector – “the only segment of communications with life in 2009,” Kainer said – more closely and selling more SIP trunks to service providers in Europe and Asia. Add that to rival Nortel Networks’ bankruptcy and “we are slightly more hopeful of an end-of-year recovery” for Acme Packet, said Kainer.