Shares of Sonus Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONS) touched a new 52-week high of $4.16 on Tuesday. The company reported Monday a surprise fourth quarter earnings on higher revenue and predict higher-than-expected revenue for 2011.

The Westford, Massachusetts-based communications company posted fourth quarter earnings of $11.41 million or 4 cents a share, compared to $10.31 million or 4 cents a share last year. Results for the quarter include stock-based compensation of $2.87 million, compared to $2.92 million last year.

Adjusted profit rose to $15 million from $13.3 million. Revenue rose to $82.98 million from $68.71 million. Analysts had expected a loss of 1 cent a share on revenue of $65.10 million for the fourth quarter.

Sonus, which makes products that network providers use to provide voice and data communications services to subscribers, reported product revenue of $54.1 million, higher than $47.01 million last year, while service revenue rose to $28.86 million from $21.70 million.

The company ended fourth quarter with 968 employees, compared to 879 for the comparable period a year ago. The company ended fourth quarter with total cash, cash equivalent, marketable securities and long-term investments of $408.4 million.

Looking forward into the fiscal 2011, the company expects revenue of $265 million to $285 million, higher than Street view of $257.44 million. The company anticipates gross margin to be within 58 percent to 62 percent range, while adjusted gross margin to be within 59 percent to 63 percent range.

The company projects operating expenses of $151 million to $155 million and adjusted operating expenses of $143 million to $147 million. In the conference call, the company said it expects to grow headcount for the year to about 1,075 with the majority of investments within its customer facing resources, as well as its research and development team.

For the first quarter, the company expects its ending cash and investments to be about $400 million, and adjusted operating expenses of $36 million to $38 million. The company expects to spend between $2 million and $4 million of capital expenditures with majority related to its research and development efforts.

Sonus stock gapped open sharply higher Tuesday at $3.79, compared to previous day Monday's close of $3.03. The stock touched a new 52-week high of $4.16 during the Monday's trading session.

The stock closed Monday's regular trading up 33.33 percent at $4.04 on a volume of 34.50 million shares on the NASDAQ stock market. In the after-hours, the stock rose 0.74 percent to $4.07. The stock traded between $2.15 and $4.16.

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