Shares in DigitalGlobe, one of the world’s leading providers of high-resolution Earth-satellite imagery, jumped 16.87 percent Friday, closing at $33.25.
The Longmont-based company held its 2014 fourth-quarter and year-end earnings call Thursday evening.
The soaring shares marked a sharp contrast to just one year ago, when the company was punished with a 27.3 percent price drop — from $41.12 per share to $29.21 — when the company estimated during its 2013 year-end earnings call that 2014 revenue would fall to between $630 million and $660 million — well below a previously stated $712.4 million.
The company’s estimates were not far off the mark: Revenue increased 6.8 percent, to $654.6 million, and net income hit $18.5 million.
For the fourth quarter, the company reported $185.7 million in earnings, up 9.4 percent and outpacing analysts’ expectations of $180.27 million for the quarter.
Net income for the quarter was 10.7 million, or 14 cents per share, versus $13.6 million, or 18 cents per share, in fourth quarter of 2013. Analysts were expecting 6 cents per share.
CEO Jeffrey Tarr called 2014 “a milestone year for DigitalGlobe, as we marked our transition from a period of investment in building the world’s leading Earth observation capability to a new era of growth, margin expansion, free cash flow and improving returns.”
Last year, DigitalGlobe launched WorldView-3 — the most advanced commercial imagery satellite. The satellite can peer through dense smoke, discern parts of the light spectrum that are invisible to the human eye and .
On Wednesday, the company made the WorldView-3 images available for sale, officially opening a new revenue stream and a new era for imaging. Earth images sharper than 50-centimeter resolution were previously prohibited to be sold to anyone other than the U.S. government. In June, the feds cleared DigitalGlobe to sell up to 25-centimeter resolution images.
Last fall, Tarr said the higher resolution images would be priced 25 to 50 percent higher than 50-centimeter images.
On Thursday, he promised more new products. “In 2015, we will accelerate growth through increased capacity and new product offerings that leverage our data, analytics and unique geospatial information capabilities,” he said.
Other highlights:
• WorldView-3’s success is paying off: Effective Oct. 1, DigitalGlobe began recognizing revenue at an increased annualized rate of $337.1 million, or $84.3 million per quarter, from its EnhancedView Web service that gives government browser-based access to imagery.
• The company in December increased its share repurchase authorization to $205 million from $75 million. DigitalGlobe repurchased 2,726,749 shares for $75.1 million at an average price of $27.53 in 2014.
• DigitalGlobe recently extended the useful life of its WorldView-1 and WorldView-2 satellites to 13 years for each. They also , after a 13-year mission during which the satellite made more than 70,000 trips around Earth.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/LauraKeeney
