NetApp: Fiscal 3Q11 Financial Results

NetApp, Inc. reported results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ended January 28, 2011.

Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal year 2011 totaled $1.268 billion compared to revenues of $1.012 billion for the same period a year ago, an increase of 25% year over year.

For the third quarter of fiscal year 2011, GAAP net income was $172 million, or $0.42 per share, compared to GAAP net income of $108 million, or $0.30 per share, for the same period a year ago. Non-GAAP net income for the third quarter of fiscal year 2011 was $211 million, or $0.52 per share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $144 million, or $0.40 per share for the same period a year ago.

Revenues for the first nine months of fiscal year 2011 totaled $3.613 billion compared to revenues of $2.760 billion for the first nine months of the prior fiscal year, an increase of 31% year over year.

GAAP net income for the first nine months of fiscal year 2011 totaled $479 million, or $1.23 per share, compared to GAAP net income of $255 million, or $0.73 per share for the first nine months of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP net income for the first nine months of fiscal year 2011 totaled $596 million, or $1.53 per share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $350 million, or $1.00 per share for the first nine months of the prior fiscal year.

"NetApp demonstrated momentum in the market again this quarter, with product revenue growth of 32% year over year, strong gross margins, and continued market share gains. As customers move toward the next generation IT infrastructure, NetApp’s innovation leadership is enabling compelling business outcomes for our customers and propelling our rapid growth," said Tom Georgens, president and CEO. "Our recent product launch further enhanced our competitive position and significantly surpassed our expectations. We have experienced the fastest uptake for a new product in the history of the company and as a result, demand has exceeded the available supply of our new FAS3200 systems. We pride ourselves on our ability to execute this business with precision, even in the face of exceptionally rapid growth. We are committed to catching up to the demand as quickly as possible."

Outlook

• NetApp estimates revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 to be approximately $1.380 billion, plus or minus 2%, which equates to approximately 7% to 11% sequential revenue growth and approximately 15% to 20% year over year revenue growth.
• NetApp estimates that fourth quarter fiscal year 2011 GAAP earnings per share will be approximately $0.38 to $0.42 per share. NetApp estimates that the fourth quarter fiscal year 2011 non-GAAP earnings per share will be approximately $0.49 to $0.53 per share.
• NetApp estimates that share count for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011 will increase to approximately 414 million shares, including an estimated 18 million shares from the company’s outstanding convertible notes and 12 million shares from outstanding warrants. Share count does not include the company’s outstanding note hedges that are expected to offset 80% of the dilution from the convertible notes at maturity or conversion, which would equate to an offset of approximately 14 million shares if the conversion or maturity occurred in the third quarter.

Business Highlights
In the third quarter of fiscal year 2011, NetApp announced its biggest product launch in the company’s history, aimed at enabling customers to address today’s evolving business requirements by moving to a flexible and efficient shared IT infrastructure. Additionally, NetApp and its executives received several noteworthy industry honors and the company once again was named one of the best places to work in the country. Key business highlights include the following:

• NetApp Paves the Way for Customers to Make the Transition to a Shared IT Infrastructure and Capitalize on New Growth Opportunities
• NetApp delivers the foundation for flexible and efficient shared IT infrastructures. With the biggest product launch in its history, NetApp unveiled enhancements to the NetApp Data ONTAP operating system that enable greater flexibility, efficiency, scalability, and performance. NetApp also introduced the NetApp FAS/V6200 series of high-end storage systems and FAS/V3200 series of midrange storage systems, both built on unified architectures and able to help customers respond to the rapid growth and pace of business. Additional launch components included the OnCommand Management Software Suite, a SAS disk shelf, and new solid-state drives.
• NetApp, Cisco, and VMware enable customer transformation to a virtualized, shared IT infrastructure. Highlighting their ongoing collaboration, NetApp, Cisco, and VMware unveiled FlexPod for VMware, a unified, pretested, and validated shared infrastructure that can scale easily, be optimized for a variety of mixed application workloads, or be configured for virtual desktop or server infrastructure, secure multi-tenancy, or cloud environments. The three companies are working closely with leading channel partners to help customers take advantage of FlexPod for VMware to transform to a more efficient and flexible data center infrastructure.
• NetApp acquired Akorri Networks, Inc., a privately held company headquartered in Littleton, Massachusetts. Akorri’s technology will enable NetApp to provide customers with comprehensive tools to automate and analyze their shared IT infrastructures, efficiently deliver on service levels, and respond to rapidly changing business needs.

Milestones and Awards

• NetApp named one of the Best Places to Work. NetApp was ranked #5 on Fortune magazine’s ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list for 2011, marking its third consecutive year in the top 10 and the fifth consecutive year in the top 15. NetApp also ranked #2 on Crain’s New York Business‘s annual ‘Best Places to Work in New York City’ list for 2010. Both honors are a testament to NetApp’s model company approach, strong culture, and talented employees.
• NetApp executives among most influential. Tom Georgens, president and CEO, and Julie Parrish, vice president of Global Partner Sales, were named two of the Top 100 Most Influential Executives in the industry by Everything Channel’s CRN magazine. Georgens was included on the 25 Most Innovative Executives list for his leadership and focus on storage technology innovation and unparalleled channel commitment. Parrish was included on the Top 25 Channel Sales Leaders list for her role in increasing NetApp’s global sales through its partner ecosystem.
• NetApp positioned in Leaders quadrant. Gartner, Inc. placed NetApp in the Leaders quadrant for midrange and high-end modular disk arrays. Gartner asserted that vendors in the Leaders quadrant "have the highest scores in their ability to execute and completeness of vision."