NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) released its earnings numbers for the second quarter in its financial 2014 this afternoon after the bell was rung on Wall Street. The company showed earnings of 66 cents for the three months. Revenue came in at $1.55 billion for the period. On today’s market stock in NetApp trended strongly up in anticipation of these earnings numbers the firm’s shares ended the day at $41.29.
Analysts following NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) were looking for consensus earnings of 63 cents per share from the storage provider. The consensus numbers were calculated by a Bloomberg survey. The same group of analysts were looking for earnings per share of $1.6 billion.
NetApp earnings
In the same three months of 2012 NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) managed to earn 51 cents per share. Revenue in the second quarter of the company’s financial 2013 came in at $1.5 billion. NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) is betting on the growth in enterprise cloud services to boost its revenue and earnings, and investors in the company are hoping for the same thing.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) operates in several different segments, but its growing software business may be the most important of them all. That business has the highest margins and its massive growth in recent times has spurred a growth in overall margins at the firm.
NetApp performance
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) shares have performed well through 2013, but they haven’t outperformed the market. The company’s stock has risen in value by about 22% since the start of the year, lagging behind the close to 30% gains in the Nasdaq and the more than 23% gains in the S&P 500. Shares in the company have slumped since the middle of August, but they have recovered more than 6% in the last five days of trading.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) executives will host an earnings call in order to discuss these numbers at 5:30 PM EST. The company’s shareholders, and the analysts who rate the stock, will be hoping to get an idea of the firm’s outlook on revenue and margin for the current quarter, and the company’s guidance for growth in its software business.
