By Erin McCarthy
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) said its fiscal third-quarter earnings rose
22% as lower revenue costs and operating expenses help offset a
slight decline in the data-storage company's revenue.
NetApp builds systems that store and manage clients' digital
information, a market that has wavered over the past year as
corporations' once-surging demand for storage hardware cools.
Companies are increasingly looking to use the public cloud for data
and workload management, raising challenges for companies that
build data-storage systems.
For the quarter ended Jan. 24, NetApp reported a profit of
$192.1 million, or 55 cents a share, up from $158.1 million, or 43
cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, per-share
earnings rose to 75 cents from 67 cents.
Revenue edged down 1.2% to $1.61 billion.
The company in November forecast adjusted earnings of 68 cents
to 73 cents a share on revenue of $1.575 billion to $1.675
billion.
Product sales, which make up the bulk of revenue, fell 4.3%.
Software revenue edged down 0.7% while service revenue climbed
8%.
For the current quarter, the company sees adjusted earnings of
77 cents to 82 cents a share and revenue of $1.62 billion to $1.72
billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters recently projected
per-share earnings of 80 cents and revenue of $1.735 billion.
Shares fell about 3% in after-hours trading. As of the close,
the stock has risen 6% in the last three months.
Write to Erin McCarthy at erin.mccarthy@wsj.com
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