Harbinger lives up to 3Q promise

Harbinger Corp. (Nasdaq: HRBC) posted earnings of 10 cents a share Monday, beating First Call consensus by a penny and living up to its September statement that accelerating demand for its business-to-business products and services would put it ahead of estimates.

Shares in the supplier of electronic commerce software closed at 20 1/16 Friday. Harbinger had already announced it would beat estimates in the third quarter.

Earnings of 10 cents a share for the quarter compared to 7 cents a share for the same period last year. Revenue for the third quarter increased 16 percent to $40.9 million compared to revenue of $35.4 million for the same period last year. Core revenue from software and services (which exclude revenues from discontinued products and partners) grew 29 percent over last year's quarter, and also comprised nearly 85 percent of total revenue compared to 76 percent a year ago.

The launch of Harbinger's new ASP line, the debut of its new online vertical trading communities, and its partnership with Sun Netscape to develop a petroleum industry portal were cited as successes in the third quarter. C. Tycho Howle, Harbinger Chairman and Chief Executive Officer also saw the explosion in companies setting their EC direction for the next three to five years as evidence of upside ahead.

Harbinger also announced Monday the launch of its new e-Commerce application service provider (ASP) line of business, and an agreement with Telstra Development to expand their relationship to form a global e-commerce partnership. Telestra is the U.S.-based e-commerce division of Telstra Corporation Limited (NYSE: TLS) , an electronic communications and information services providers. Under the agreements, Telstra will use harbinger.net technologies and services for its Open Commerce Platform (OCP).