Nuance Communications narrows fiscal 1st-quarter loss, revenue jumps 21 percent

Nuance Communications narrows 1Q loss

BURLINGTON, Mass. — Speech-recognition software maker Nuance Communications Inc. said Monday it narrowed its loss in the fiscal first quarter as revenue in the company’s two largest divisions, health care and dictation, and mobile and enterprise, increased.

For the three months that ended Dec. 31, Nuance said it lost $4.3 million, or 2 cents per share. In the same period last year, the company lost $26.3 million, or 11 cents per share.

Excluding costs related to acquisitions and other special items, Nuance said it earned 29 cents per share. That’s two cents better than Wall Street was expecting, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.

Revenue jumped 21 percent to $263 million from $216.8 million in the year-ago quarter.

Adding back $21.6 million lost to an accounting treatment linked to the company’s acquisitions, revenue was $284.6 million in the latest quarter. Analysts, who typically don’t consider one-time accounting charges or gains in their estimates, had expected $268.9 million.

Nuance said its health care and dictation business revenue rose 6 percent to $121.2 million, excluding some gains related to acquisitions. On the same adjusted basis, its enterprise and mobile business revenue jumped 13 percent to $127.6 million.