Vonage rallies after William Blair uncovers win with top insurer

Shares of Vonage (VG) are on the rise in early trading after William Blair analyst Dmitry Netis told investors that he learned from his work in the field that the company has recently signed the largest Unified Communications as a Service, or UCaaS, deal in the history of the channel with a "top 3 insurance provider in the United States." The deal, which Vonage won in January, spans more than 100,000 seats and is separate from the 20,000-seat deal with a U.S. residential real estate company that Vonage previously announced. The company, when it disclosed the real estate deal on its May 9 earnings call, labeled it the largest deal in the company's history, Netis noted. Vonage competed "with the usual over-the-top UCaaS suspects," whose solutions turned out to be more expensive, the analyst added. OTHERS TO WATCH: Other providers of UCaaS services include Mitel Networks (MITL), ShoreTel (SHOR), and RingCentral (RNG). PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Vonage have gained 7.5% to $6.97.