Box Inc. said its loss widened as the software and cloud storage
company continued its spending push, in its second quarterly report
as a public company.
Shares rose 8.1% to $19.23 in recent after-hours trading as the
results beat expectations and the company raised its revenue
outlook for the year.
The California-based company went public in January at $14 a
share and surged 66% on its first day of trading, but shares have
declined 23% percent since that time, on concerns about
competition.
Canaccord Genuity Inc. analyst Richard Davis Jr. suggested in a
research note that larger companies, including Google Inc.,
Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. or EMC Corp could simply bundle
and give away cloud storage similar to what Box does for free as
part of a broader feature suite. If they did, Box could
evaporate.
For the quarter ended April 30, Box reported a loss of $47.3
million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $38.5 million. On a
per-share basis, the loss narrowed to 40 cents from $2.81 as there
were significantly more shares outstanding after the IPO.
Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, the loss
fell to 28 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters
projected a loss of 31 cents.
Revenue rose 45% to $65.6 million, beating Box's March guidance
of $63 million to $64 million.
But expenses climbed 29% to $95.1 million.
For the year, the company now expects revenue of $286 million to
$290 million, up from its projection from March of $281 million to
$285 million.
Box expects to post revenue of $69 million to $70 million for
the current quarter, while analysts were looking for $67
million.
Write to Neil Haggerty at neil.haggerty@wsj.com
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