How Red Hat Is Reaching Highs Not Seen Since the Dot-Com Era

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 12, 7:48AM EST · Published Sep 26, 10:15AM EDT

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How Red Hat Is Reaching Highs Not Seen Since the Dot-Com Era — © Thinkstock

After Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) reported its fiscal second-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Monday, the cybersecurity firm saw its shares hit multiyear highs — not seen since 2000 — early on Tuesday.

The company said that it had $0.77 in earnings per share (EPS) and $723.4 million in revenue, which compares with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $0.67 in EPS and revenue of $699.45 million. In the same period of last year, Red Hat posted EPS of $0.55 and $599.8 million in revenue.

Subscription revenue for the quarter totaled $638 million, up 20% year over year and 20% measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue makes up 88% of total revenue.

At the end of the quarter, total deferred revenue was $2.05 billion, up 22% from last year.

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In terms of the outlook for the fiscal third-quarter, the company expects to see EPS of $0.70 and revenues in the range of $730 million to $737 million. Consensus estimates call for $0.70 in EPS and $710.92 million in revenue for the coming quarter.

Red Hat’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.21 billion at the end of the quarter, compared with $1.09 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO of Red Hat, commented:

Strong demand for our technologies that enable hybrid cloud computing has contributed to accelerated revenue growth in the first half of the fiscal year. In the second quarter, we delivered total revenue growth of 21%, fueled by over 40% growth in our Application Development-related and other emerging technology revenue. IT organizations continued to turn to Red Hat as a strategic technology partner to help them transform and modernize their applications and infrastructure for the hybrid cloud.

Shares of Red Hat traded up 4% early Monday at $110.06. The consensus analyst price target is $111.32, and the 52-week trading range is $68.54 to $108.39.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.