Fusion-io Posts Loss In Q2, But Results Beat View; Sees Q3 Revenue In Line

(RTTNews) - Storage drive maker Fusion-io Inc. (FIO) on Wednesday reported a loss for the second quarter on lower revenues and higher expenses. However, adjusted loss per share came in narrower than analysts' expectations, while revenues beat their estimates.

Looking ahead, Fusion-io forecasts revenue for the third quarter in line with Street estimates. The company also said it has appointed Charlie Foo as vice president of the Asia Pacific Japan region, effective February 3, 2014.

The Salt Lake, Utah-based company reported net loss for the second quarter of $21.30 million or $0.20 per share, compared to net income of $1.73 million or $0.02 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net loss for the quarter was $6.36 million or $0.06 per share, compared to adjusted net income of $13.69 million or $0.13 per share in the year-ago quarter. On average, 24 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report loss of $0.10 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the quarter declined 27 percent to $94.50 million from $120.57 million in the same quarter last year, but beat analysts' consensus estimate of $89.28 million.

Gross margin declined to 56.1 percent from last year's 61.7 percent. Operating margin was negative 22.2 percent, compared to positive 5.7 percent in the year-ago period.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, Fusion-io expects revenue to be in-line to slightly up sequentially. Analysts expect the company to report revenues of $97.85 million.

In a separate statement, Fusion-io said that Charlie Foo will join the company as vice president of the Asia Pacific Japan or APJ region, effective February 3, 2014.

Based in Singapore, Foo will oversee sales, marketing, customer service, and OEM and channel partner development. Prior to joining Fusion-io, Foo served as Asia Pacific vice president at Brocade Communications Systems.

FIO closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $9.42, up $0.35 or 3.86 percent on a volume of 6.55 million shares. In after-hours, the stock further gained $0.25 or 2.65 percent to $9.67.