RALEIGH – Bandwidth Inc.  on Thursday reported first-quarter profit of $2 million, news that sparked a surge of $2.50 a share in after-hours trading.

The Raleigh-based communications company said it had net income of 9 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 12 cents per share.

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Bandwidth

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 23 cents per share.

“We are very pleased with our strong first quarter results which provide a great start to 2019. Our go-to market investments are building momentum as we have made continued progress in attracting innovative customers who choose to build on the Bandwidth platform,” David Morken, chief executive officer of Bandwidth, said in a statement.

“Additionally, we recently introduced new A2P [application to person] messaging and voice services demonstrating the ability of our expanded software development and engineering teams to continually improve our platform capabilities to serve the needs of enterprise customers.”

The enterprise software developer posted revenue of $53.3 million in the period.

Shares in Bandwidth (Nasdaq: BAND) closed at $72.47 on Thursday and rallied to $75 shortly after the earnings report.

Its stock recently hit a 52-week high of $76.33.

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For the current quarter ending in July, Bandwidth expects its results to range from a loss of 19 cents per share to a loss of 17 cents per share.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $54.8 million to $55.3 million for the fiscal second quarter.

Bandwidth expects full-year results to range from a loss of 51 cents per share to a loss of 44 cents per share, with revenue ranging from $233.5 million to $235 million.

Bandwidth shares have increased 78% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $72.47, more than doubling in the last 12 months.

Its 52-week low is $27.75.

Bandwidth loss is worse than forecast but CEO says expansion, hiring continues