Liberate gets past 1Q forecasts

Liberate Technologies posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its first quarter Thursday, losing $9 million, or 9 cents a share, on sales of $9.4 million.

First Call Corp. consensus expected it to lose 21 cents a share in the quarter.

Liberate (Nasdaq: LBRT) shares closed up 44 cents to $29.13 ahead of the earnings report.

The $9.4 million in sales represents a 78 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter when it lost $10.1 million, or 14 cents a share, on sales of $5.3 million.

"Liberate's solution continues to gain market share through design wins from the largest network operators around the world and is now being reinforced by these customers deploying to subscribers," said CEO Mitchell Kertzman in a prepared release.

Last quarter, Liberate hurdled analysts' estimates when it posted a loss of $11.4 million, or 13 cents a share, on sales of $9.1 million.

Its shares moved as high as $148.50 in December after falling to a low of $14.19 last September.

All seven analysts following the stock rate it either a "buy" or "strong buy."

First Call Corp. consensus expects it to lose 86 cents a share in the fiscal year.