Continuus Software Stock Rises 39%

Continuus Software Corp.’s stock got a much-needed boost Tuesday as its shares rocketed 39% after the Irvine firm announced an agreement to pair its product with a popular program by International Business Machines Corp.

The deal, which links Continuus with IBM’s widely used VisualAge for Java program, revived investors’ interest and made the stock look like a bargain, said John Wark, chief executive at Continuus. Java programs are central in enabling Internet-based software solutions.

Although no terms of the arrangement were released, analysts said Continuus now stands to attract a range of other partners. “They will be able to get a lot of leverage off this technology with Java solution providers like IBM,” said Nick Pollard, an analyst with H.C. Wainwright & Co.

The company’s stock rose $1.19 to close at $4.25, but that still leaves it well short of recent prices. Continuus went public in July at $8 a share and reached a high of more than $15 before plunging in April in response to its subpar performance in the year’s first three months.

In that quarter, Continuus posted a net loss rather than the profit that analysts had predicted, reflecting several software licensing deals that were delayed. That did not include the IBM arrangement.

Continuus’ software functions like a cross between a traffic cop and a librarian, Wark said. It keeps a running tab of changes to computer networks or Internet sites, helping programmers keep track of what they have done and what their colleagues are doing.

The company, founded in 1987, has more than 540 clients, among them Lockheed, Nokia, Bell Atlantic and Bank of America.