The share price of software solutions provider Integrated Research Limited (ASX: IRI) reached an all-time high in early afternoon trade, surging over 5% to a new high of $4.40.
The Integrated Research share price got off to a hot start today after the company informed the market it would be releasing full-year earnings for FY19 on 20 August. The share price has, however, also been assisted by the collective gains of the ASX technology sector more broadly.
Today's result means the company has more than doubled in value since bottoming out at $2.19 in March. But I think the Integrated Research share price still has some growth ahead of it, particularly over the medium to long term.
What's driving the Integrated Research share price to an all-time high during this period of extreme volatility?
Impressive FY19 earnings
The Integrated Research share price has improved since the company, which is a leading global provider of management solutions for critical unified communications, payments, contact centres and IT infrastructure, provided a sneak-peak for expected FY19 profit guidance on 17 July.
This announcement indicated that revenue was expected to grow by around 9%-10% up to as much as $111 million. Likewise, profit after tax was touted to see an improvement of around 8%-11%.
Despite last month's announcement being subject to the necessary financial auditing requirements, the Integrated Research share price has been bolstered by over 13% since these figures were revealed.
Why I think the Integrated Research share price is still a buy
Although we'll know for sure just how well the company has performed in a couple of weeks, I like Integrated Research for its unique product offering, 'Prognosis for Unified Communications (UC)'.
In last month's profit guidance update, the company cited that its 13%-15% increase in licence sales was predominantly driven by its UC products.
Prognosis for UC is a performance management solution for voice, video and collaboration ecosystems, allowing its clients to monitor, troubleshoot, and optimise complex UC environments on-premises, in the cloud, or both.
Integrated Research offers the Prognosis suite in over 60 countries worldwide, and the company has benefitted from contracts with Avaya, Microsoft, Cisco, AT&T and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ASX: ANZ) among others.
I believe the growth of the company's 'Prognosis' platform is a key factor currently driving the positive movements of its share price.
Foolish takeaway
With working from home protocols resulting in unprecedented demand for software as a service (SaaS) and enhanced capabilities in the cloud itself, I see companies such as Integrated Research continuing to perform well over the medium to long term.
This company remains a watchlist item for me at this point, but I'll be keeping a close eye on its Prognosis UC platform over the coming months.
