Are Analysts Too Generous With Cloudera After Earnings?

June 6, 2019 by Chris Lange

Cloudera Inc. (NYSE: CLDR) shares were absolutely crushed on Thursday after the company released its most recent quarterly results and announced that its CEO will be stepping down. Analysts took this opportunity to slash their targets.

The tech firm said that it had a net loss of $0.13 per share (EPS) and $187.5 million in revenue, compared with consensus estimates that called for a net loss of $0.23 per share and $188.48 million in revenue. The fiscal first quarter of last year reportedly had a net loss of $0.18 per share and $102.71 million in revenue.

During the latest quarter, subscription revenue was $154.8 million and services revenue totaled $32.6 million. At the same time, annualized recurring revenue grew 21% year over year.

Looking ahead to the fiscal second quarter, the company expects to see a per-share net loss in the range of $0.11 to $0.08 and total revenue of $180 million to $183 million. Consensus estimates call for a net loss of $0.09 per share and $203.29 million in revenue for the quarter.

Tom Reilly will retire as chief executive officer and as a member of the board of directors, effective July 31, 2019. The board has appointed its board chair, Martin Cole, as interim CEO, effective at the end of Reilly’s transition.

Here’s what analysts had to say after these announcements:

  • Raymond James downgraded it to Market Perform from Outperform.
  • Needham downgraded it to a Hold rating from Strong Buy.
  • Craig Hallum reiterated an In-Line rating and dropped its price target to $14 from $22.
  • Wedbush reiterated a Neutral rating and lowered its price target from $16 to $7.
  • Northland Securities reiterated a Buy rating with a $12 price target.
  • JPMorgan has a Neutral rating and lowered its price target from $16 to $8.
  • Barclays reiterated an Equal Weight rating and lowered its target to $7 from $14.
  • Citigroup downgraded it to a Neutral rating with a $7.50 price target.
  • Stifel downgraded it to Hold and lowered its price target from $16 to $6.

Shares of Cloudera traded down about 42% Thursday to $5.11, in a 52-week range of $4.95 to $20.18. The consensus price target is $18.19.