Compellent: Fiscal 1Q09 Financial Results

(in US$ millions)	1Q08	1Q09
Revenues	18.3	28.1
*Growth*		53%
Net income (loss)	(1.6)	1.0

Compellent Technologies, Inc. announced record revenue in its first quarter due to continued demand for its storage solutions.

Highlights
from the first quarter ended March 31, 2009 include:

Revenue of $28.1 million representing the company’s 14th consecutive quarterly increase. Revenue grew 53 percent from the first quarter of 2008 and four percent sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2008.
GAAP net income was $1.0 million, or $0.03 per share. Non-GAAP net income was $1.8 million, or $0.06 per share, adjusting for non-cash stock compensation expense.
End-users totaled 1,376 at March 31, 2009 compared with 1,278 at year-end 2008.
Cash and investments were $103.4 million compared with $100.3 million at December 31, 2008.

“Despite a challenging macro-economic environment, Compellent continued to demonstrate the value of its efficient, easy-to-use, cost-effective storage solution, achieving another quarter of strong financial results,” said Phil Soran, President and CEO of Compellent. “As data storage requirements continue to expand, we are benefitting from the ‘flight to efficiency’ trend. End-users are looking for more innovative alternatives, and we can deliver it. I am proud that in this difficult economic environment we were able to deliver revenue growth, good expense control, and continued profitability.”

“In addition, our channel-assisted sales model and virtual manufacturing enable us to run a very lean, efficient operation and positions us well in this challenging market. While we have seen the effects of the economic slowdown, including longer approval cycles, there is still demand for storage innovation,” Mr. Soran concluded.

Additional financial highlights include:

Gross margin was 52.8 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to 52.2 percent in the first quarter of 2008.
Operating expenses increased 17 percent in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2008, reflecting increased investment in technology and sales team expansion.
Operating profit was $793,000 in the first quarter of 2009 compared with an operating loss of $2.5 million in the first quarter of 2008.

Comments

Here are some abstracts of the conference call transcript:

Jack Judd, CFO:

"International revenue was 16% of total revenue in the just completed quarter. Our end users at the end of the quarter totaled 1,376 compared to 829 one year earlier and 1,278 at the end of December. Our revenue from existing end users was 55% of product revenue and new end users made up 45% of product revenue.

"At March 31st, we employed 317 employees, an increase of 27 from December 31st and similar to previous quarters the vast majority of our hiring supports our product channel and end users.

"Our current forecast is for revenue between $27 million and $29 million."