Now, I was looking at the page because it's about time for Zealand-based Xero to report results for the third quarter ended December 31. You'd have to figure that the investor community is betting that the quarter was a good one. The main figure to look for, however, is not revenue and loss. It is the rate of growth of sales of the company's cloud-based accounting system compared to the rate of growth for its chief rival. For its second quarter ended January 31, Intuit reported the number of subscribers for QuickBooks Online rose to 841,000, up 50 percent from 561,000 in the second quarter of fiscal 2014 and the number was up 102,000 over the first quarter of this fiscal year. In December, Xero said it had passed 400,000 customers. In February last year, it had 250,000 customers, which is 60-percent up, but from a smaller base.
XERO STOCK POPS Featured
Xero's stock had been beaten down by 50 percent from its highs over the last year. But from February 16 through February 19 it jumped to $19 per share up 15.85 percent from $16.40 per share (Australian). (And which have since topped $20.) The calculations were posted by the New Zealand stock exchange in an inquiry to the company. The inquiry and response is required under New Zealand Listing Rule 10.1.1 when a stock moves significantly.
