Ellie Mae Earnings Up 53% on Strong User Growth

Ellie Mae earned $22.6 million for 2015, a gain of 53% over 2014's $14.8 million. The improvement was helped by a stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter performance.

Its fourth-quarter net income was $4.8 million, up from $4.3 million one year prior. Revenue for the period increased 39% on a year-over-year basis to $64.9 million.

During the fourth quarter, Ellie Mae acquired customer-relationship management services provider Mortgage Returns. In its third-quarter earnings call, Ellie Mae said it expected to lose between $3.3 million and $3.8 million in the fourth quarter because of the deal and normal seasonality in the purchase business.

"Fourth-quarter year-over-year revenue growth of 39% was driven by the continued ramp of Encompass users and adoption of our services. Total seat bookings reached an all-time high of 16,200 during the quarter and included a record 8,700 new customer seats," said President and CEO Jonathan Corr in a press release.

During the year, Ellie Mae saw a 25% increase in the number of active Encompass users to 136,167. The number of users of the Software as a Service version of Encompass increased 43% to 121,409, or 89% of the total.

Full-year revenue reached a record $253.9 million, up 57% from $161.5 million for 2014.