NetApp Shares Fall 10% After 4Q Earnings

By Patrick Thomas

Shares of NetApp Inc. (NTAP) were down 10% to $60.19 after its fourth-quarter earnings missed expectations and the company gave a lower-than-expected outlook for the current quarter.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based cloud data services company said revenue fell 3% to $1.59 billion for the quarter, analysts polled by FactSet had expected $1.64 billion in revenue.

Chief Executive George Kurian said on a conference call that the company didn't execute well on its maintenance renewals in the quarter and that data center deals are taking longer and require greater effort to close.

For its current quarter, the company expects revenue between $1.32 billion and $1.47 billion. Analysts at Raymond James were hoping for $1.48 billion in revenue, but the analysts said in a research note that they remain optimistic about the company's long-term prospects.

"Despite the miss and lower outlook, management's full-year guidance implies a 2H19 recovery," the analysts said in a research note. "The broader based market headwinds were not too surprising."

Raymond James maintained its "market perform" rating on NetApp.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 23, 2019 12:55 ET (16:55 GMT)

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