Portal Software's 1Q sales jump 273 percent

Portal Software Inc. (Nasdaq: PRSF) improved its total sales by 273 percent in its first quarter but it also doubled its loss compared to the year-ago period. Its shares closed off 3, or 6 percent, to 44 1/2.

In the quarter, Portal Software lost $5.5 million, or 9 cents a share, on sales of $15.2 million.

There was no First Call consensus estimate for the quarter.

The $15.2 million in sales represents a 273 percent jump versus the year-ago quarter when it lost $2.1 million, or 4 cents a share, on sales of $4 million.

Earlier this month, Portal Software raised $104 million in its initial public offering.

The stock fell to a low of 27 3/4 before rallying to a high of 58.

"We are pleased with our first quarter results," said CEO John Little in a prepared release. "We will continue to focus on achieving our objective of becoming the leader in customer management and billing solutions that are core to the Internet infrastructure."

Portal also landed a key investment from Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) in the quarter.

Portal will be Cisco's customer management and billing partner for next-generation data Internet Protocol services.