Box loss narrows in Q4 earnings, reports 40 percent jump in revenue in 2016

Box reported on Wednesday its fourth quarter and fiscal 2016 year earnings.

The company reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of 26 cents per share on revenue of $85 million (statement).

Wall Street was expecting 29 cents per share on a revenue of $82 million.

A loss on earnings is still loss, but it wasn't half as bad as analysts were expecting.

For the fiscal year of 2016, its revenue rocketed by 40 percent to $302.7 million, with billings up by 50 percent to $369.1 million.

Chief executive and co-founder Aaron Levie said in prepared remarks that the year was "momentous" for the company with record revenue, adding:

"We achieved higher operating leverage driven by our strong business model and execution, and we remain focused on expanding our customer base, increasing our scale and driving further operational efficiencies."

The company said its customer base grew by 57,000 businesses, including about 59 percent of the Fortune 500.

The cloud provider ended the quarter with $221.1 million in cash and equivalents.

Looking ahead to the first quarter, the company expects to report a loss of 24 cents to 23 cents per share, on revenue of about $88 million to $89 million -- both passing Wall Street estimates.

Shares of the cloud storage provider were up by 16 percent in late-day trading after the bell.