Scient profits beat Street's outlook

After the close of the market Thursday, Net consulting company Scient reported second-quarter earnings a penny higher than Wall Street estimates.

Scient Stock price from October 1999 to present.

Source: Prophet Finance

Scient, which helps companies develop their Web sites and devise Internet strategies, posted net income of $5.7 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with a loss of $1.6 million, or 2 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the San Francisco-based company to earn 6 cents a share in the quarter, which ended Sept. 30.

Second-quarter revenue soared more than 200 percent to $102 million from $30.8 million in the year-ago period. The total number of employees, including consultants, grew to 1,868, up from 1,499 at the end of the preceding quarter, the company said.

The healthy quarterly results come as Internet consulting players in general trudge through a major transition from serving cash-strapped dot-coms to assisting larger Fortune 500 clients with deeper pockets. Scient has said that it already has made the transition from dot-com clients to larger, more established businesses.

During its second quarter, Scient said, it helped launch 10 e-businesses for clients such as Chase Manhattan, Wells Fargo, Epoch Partners and Hotwire. The company plans to continue to focus on improving profitability and expanding its business into new geographic areas.