Portal announces 2-for-1 split

Portal Software (Nasdaq: PRSF) will split its stock next month.

On Monday, the vendor of billing and customer service software for ISPs and communications companies said its board has approved a 2-for-1 stock split, to take effect Jan. 19 for shareholders of Dec. 31 record. It will be the company's first stock split since its IPO earlier this year.

Shares of Portal have risen more than 190 percent from their first-day closing price of 37 3/8 on May 6.

In each of its three quarterly reports as a publicly-traded company, Portal has easily beaten analyst estimates. Portal saw a third quarter loss of 2 cents per share, far better than Wall Street's consensus forecast for a loss of 11 cents per share for the quarter ended Oct. 31.

Third quarter revenue rose to $28.1 million, a 288 percent gain year-over-year and 35 percent improvement sequentially. First Call consensus now predicts Portal will reach profitability in the third quarter of 2000.