How Hortonworks Earnings Fell Flat

August 5, 2016 by Chris Lange

Hortonworks Inc. (NASDAQ: HDP) released its second-quarter earnings report after the markets closed on Thursday. Although the results in this report were only slightly off, the investor reaction was catastrophic and sent shares down by nearly one-third. It also did not help that President Herb Cunitz is leaving the company as well.

The company posted a net loss of $0.72 per share on $43.6 million in revenue. The consensus estimates had called for a net loss of $0.70 per share on revenue of $45.6 million. In the same period of last year, Hortonworks reported a net loss of $0.82 per share and $29.96 million in revenue.

Operating billings totaled $62.2 million for the second quarter of 2016, an increase of 49%. At the same time, deferred revenue increased by 23% to a total of $131.8 million.

In terms of the outlook for the third quarter, the company expects to have revenues of $45.0 million and gross billings of $68 million. The consensus estimates call for a net loss of $0.70 per share on $45.26 million in revenue.

Back in June, Hortonworks announced that Hewlett Packard Enterprise upgraded its Enterprise Analytics and Business Intelligence capabilities using HDP. Also this quarter, the company announced the expansion of its successful Partnerworks program to include new offerings for Managed Service Providers and Integrated Software Vendor/Integrated Hardware Vendor partners. For some background, Partnerworks is a comprehensive global program to support and enable partners selling, implementing and innovating with Hortonworks solutions.

And, as mentioned, the company also announced that Herb Cunitz, president of Hortonworks, has decided to leave.

Rob Bearden, chief executive and board chair at Hortonworks, commented on earnings:

Our second quarter performance was highlighted by strong support subscription revenue growth and a material improvement in operating cash flow. We remain focused on transforming our enterprise customers’ business models while also improving our own business model.

On the books, Hortonworks had cash and investments of $130.1 million, versus to $96.9 million at the end of 2015 and $144.4 million in the second quarter from last year.

Shares of Hortonworks closed Thursday at $12.63, but were down 33% at $8.40 early Friday. The consensus analyst price target is $17.85, and the 52-week trading range is $7.12 to $28.75.

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