NetSuite beats Q2 expectations as revenue climbed 35 percent

Also reporting after the bell on Thursday was NetSuite, which did considerably better (in terms of meeting analyst expectations) than Amazon or Zynga.

The enterprise software giant reported a second quarter net loss of $20.4 million, or 28 cents per share (statement).

But non-GAAP earnings were five cents per share on a revenue of $101 million, up 35 percent from the same time last year.

Wall Street was looking for earnings of two cents per share on a revenue of $100.6 million.

Focusing on where NetSuite stands against the competition (namely SAP) CEO Zach Nelson reflected on the quarter in prepared remarks:

If there was any question that mission-critical business applications were moving to NetSuite, this quarter should provide the answer. In Q2, SAP actually reported software revenues down 7% year-over-year, while NetSuite reported recurring subscription and support revenue growing by 31%, total revenue up 35%, deferred revenue growing 39%, average selling price growing by more than 20%, and sales through our channel partners up more than 70% year-over-year.

For the third quarter, Wall Street expects NetSuite to deliver earnings of nine cents per share on a revenue of $104.86 million.

NetSuite is expected to provide third quarter guidance during its conference call with analysts and investors at 2PM PT/5PM ET on Thursday.

UPDATE: During the conference call, Nelson reiterated that "growth was the word of the quarter" for NetSuite while asserting that other software companies saw revenue declines.

While also hitting the high end of the outlook, Nelson also pointed out that this past quarter marked the first time that NetSuite surpassed $100 million in quarterly revenue.

After calling out SAP in the report, Nelson didn't mince words about business management software provider Sage, accrediting its decline to its "non-cloud products" matched with "last gasp attempts" at recovery during the second quarter, which he described as "more lipstick on the pig.

To keep the momentum going, NetSuite provided Q3 revenue guidance of $105 million to $106 million with projected earnings of seven to eight cents per share.

NetSuite also raised its annual outlook from a revenue range of $404 million to $408 million to $406 million to $410 million.