Pure Storage Maintains Hot Streak As Q4 Earnings, Q1 Outlook Beat
Pure Storage ( PSTG ) kept its string of triple-digit revenue growth alive and posted fourth-quarter earnings after the close Wednesday that beat Wall Street estimates, as did its Q1 outlook. Pure Storage reported revenue of $150.2 million, up 128% from the year-earlier quarter and soundly beating the consensus estimate of $138.6 million. It was the ninth quarter in a row of triple-digit gains. The company reported a per-share loss minus items of 12 cents, vs. the consensus estimate for a 16-cent loss, as polled by Thomson Reuters, for the period ended Jan. 31. Pure Storage stock, which rose 5% to 15.71 in regular trading, was up another 5% in after-hours trading, after the company released its earnings. For Q1, Pure Storage forecast revenue of $135 million to $139 million, above the $130.5 million analyst consensus. For the year, Pure Storage expects revenue of $685 million to $725 million. The consensus is $667 million. “We delivered our best ever quarter in Q4, concluding another record setting year for Pure Storage,” company CEO Scott Dietzen said in the earnings release . “The business continues to run on all cylinders, fueled by the rapid worldwide adoption of FlashArray combined with improved operating efficiency as we scale.” The company grew its customer base by more than 120% over the past year to more than 1,650 organizations, it said. Pure Storage provides flash-chip-based storage systems for the enterprise market, a cutting-edge technology that is making life difficult for storage leaders EMC ( EMC ) and NetApp ( NTAP ). CEO Dietzen says that the data storage industry is on the cusp of a revolutionary change that Pure aims to lead. But a recent report from Summit Research said that while Pure Storage has cutting-edge data technology, it will face an uphill battle trying to dislodge EMC and NetApp.