Is This the Turnaround Pure Storage Shareholders Are Looking For?

Pure Storage Inc. (NYSE: PSTG) released its fiscal second-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday. Despite having a wider than expected loss this quarter, Pure Storage made huge strides in terms of growth and cutting its losses. While driving rapid growth, the company also significantly improved operating margin from last year. Pure Storage nearly doubled its business over the past year, while at the same time cutting operating losses almost 40%.

Keep in mind that prior to this move, Pure Storage stock was down about 25% year to date. Could this be the turnaround shareholders are looking for?

The company said that it had a net loss of $0.31 per share on $163.2 million in revenue. The consensus estimates had called for a net loss of $0.16 per share on revenue of $154.9 million. The same period from last year reportedly had a $1.89 per share net loss and $84.7 million in revenue.

During the quarter, Pure Storage added more than 350 new customers, increasing the total to more than 2,300 organizations, including nearly 20% of the Fortune 500.

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In terms of guidance for the third quarter, the company expects to have revenue in the range of $187 million to $195 million, gross margin in the range of 64% to 67% and operating margin in the range of −17.5% to −13.5%. The consensus estimates for the quarter are $0.15 in EPS and $193.66 million in revenue.

On the books, Pure Storage cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $570.2 million at the end of the quarter, versus $604.7 million at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Scott Dietzen, CEO of Pure Storage, commented:

We are delighted to report another great quarter with record revenue. We are very pleased with the growth of the business in the July quarter, driven by solid repeat purchase rates, by partnering with the channel to accelerate our go-to-market, by healthy demand from cloud customers ‒ which accounts for more than 25% of our business ‒ and by growing sales to international customers, who made up 25% of revenue.

Shares of Pure Storage were trading up about 6% at $12.55 on Friday, with a consensus analyst price target of $16.63 and a 52-week trading range of $9.62 to $20.60.

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