Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) will report its first-quarter financial results after the markets close Monday. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.20 in earnings per share (EPS) on $481.57 million in revenue. In the same period of the previous year, the company posted EPS of $0.18 and revenue of $421.05 million.
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This leader in the managed cloud is the founder of OpenStack, the open-source operating system for the cloud. It offers a diverse portfolio of cloud computing services, including public cloud, dedicated cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud. All its services are committed to open technologies. The equipment — including servers, routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, cabinets, software and wiring — that are required to deliver services is typically purchased and managed by the company.
Last fall the company announced it was updating and modernizing its relationship with Microsoft and now offers support for Microsoft’s private cloud offering, along with added support for Google Apps. The company also got Wall Street’s attention this time last year when it said it was looking at strategic alternatives, which could mean a buyout or merger. With no firm suitors lining up, the company has continued to increase the focus on product development.
Hedge fund Blue Harbour Group continues to add to its holdings in the stock, and the position accounts for 13.72% of the fund’s total portfolio, as of the end of 2014. In November 2014, the company’s chairman and founder, Graham Weston, bought $25 million of Rackspace stock. Weston believes that the company has a lot of growth potential. He remains very optimistic about its revenue growth under the leadership of its new chief executive.
Ahead of earnings, a couple analysts weighed in on Rackspace. At the tail end of April, Cowen reiterated an Outperform rating with a $75 price target, implying upside of 31% from current prices. Stifel had a Buy rating with a price target of $60, implying upside of 12%.
Shares of Rackspace were down 0.9% at $53.51 Monday afternoon. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $54.84 and a 52-week trading range of $26.24 to $56.20.
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