Why MicroStrategy Stock Popped Tuesday

What's happening: Shares of enterprise analytics and security vendor MicroStrategy were up 15.7% as of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday following an upbeat earnings report that easily topped the Street's expectations.

Why it's happening: Revenue in the second quarter came in at $132.9 million, a 6% decline from a year ago but well ahead of the $128 million forecast. Earnings of $1.95 per share also crushed the consensus of $1.51 in earnings per share. The company also appointed a new CFO, Phong Le, effective in late August, following the previously announced retirement of current CFO Douglas K. Thede.

MicroStrategy has been able to successfully reduce costs in a big way, which boosts margins all the way to the bottom line. Case in point, even though revenue fell, gross profit actually increased compared to a year ago. Operating expenses also fell by nearly 40%. During the quarter, MicroStrategy announced the general availability of its MicroStrategy 10 Secure Enterprise offering, which includes a slew of new features catered toward enterprise analytics. The company also debuted a new software development kit for third-party developers to integrate security capabilities into their mobile apps. All around, it was a solid quarter that is pushing shares to fresh 52-week highs.

The article Why MicroStrategy Stock Popped Tuesday originally appeared on Fool.com.

Evan Niu, CFA has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends MicroStrategy. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.