Top Performer for Friday: Neutral Tandem (TNDM)

A 4.4% gain this morning was enough to put Neutral Tandem, Inc. (TNDM - Snapshot Report) on the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List. Volume for the company is at 1.57 million thus far, which is higher than the average at 953,000.

TNDM is a leading provider of tandem interconnection services to wireless, wireline, cable and broadband telephony companies. It is 1 of 8 companies from the Utility - Telephone company on today's Zacks #1 Rank List, which includes 225 stocks.

Analysts Still on Board

TNDM was last featured as a Zacks #1 Rank top performer on Apr 30, just as it announced strong first-quarter results. Analysts responded by boosting earnings estimates, which have remained at those heightened levels for 2 months now.

Expectations for this year are at $1.15 per share, or 15% better than 60 days ago. This includes a 1.8% advance in the past 30 days.

Meanwhile, next year's estimate of $1.42 remains better than the 2-month ago level by more than 13.5%. Furthermore, the consensus is 23.5% better than this year's current consensus.

Strong First Quarter

TNDM earned 27 cents per share in its first quarter, which was better than Wall Street expectations by 17.4%. In the year-ago quarter, the company had reported 12 cents.

This marked another quarter in which TNDM surpassed analysts' expectations. It has put together an average surprise of more than 21% in the past 4 quarters.

Revenue moved 45.8% higher to $38.2 million, versus $26.2 million last year. TNDM attributed this rise to an increase in the number of minutes carried over its network, as well as expansion into additional geographical markets.

Thanks to the quarter's results, TNDM raised its 2009 revenue guidance to between $158 million and $165 million, compared to the previous range of $151 million to $158 million.