Splunk shares rise as fiscal Q4 recurring revenue tops expectations, lead by cloud
Data analytics software pioneer Splunk this afternoon reported Q4 revenue that topped analysts' expectations, and a much higher-than-expected profit per share, and showed subscription recurring revenue that beat analysts' expectations.
The report sent Splunk shares modestly higher in late trading.
CEO Doug Merritt said he was "incredibly proud of our progress through our transformation, and this quarter's performance is no exception."
Added Merritt, "The market's demand for data-driven solutions that enable digital and cloud transformation has never been higher
"We now have more than 500 customers investing over $1 million annually in our platform and solutions. At our size, Splunk is one of the fastest growing companies in the history of enterprise software."
Revenue in the three months ended in December fell 7%, year over year, to $745 million, yielding a net profit of 38 cents a share.
Analysts had been modeling $677 million and a profit of 3 cents per share.
Splunk said its annualized recurring revenue from cloud computing software rose 83%, year over year, to $810 million.
Total ARR rose 41%, year over year, to $2.36 billion, topping the average estimate for $2.33 billion, according to FactSet.
Splunk's CFO, Jason Child, said the company's was "extremely proud" of its recurring revenue growth of 41% and its cloud ARR growth of 83% growth, adding that the company's "business fundamentals […] remain strong."
Added Child, "As organizations continue to reinvent towards the cloud, I'm confident that our ability to support them across IT, Security and Developer operations positions Splunk for long-term success."
That better-than-expected ARR reversed a miss
For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $480 million to $500 million, versus consensus for $507 million.
Annualized recurring revenue is expected to come in at $2.42 billion to $2.44 billion, just a bit below the $2.439 billion average estimate of analysts.