What happened
Shares of Tech Data (TECD) are up 21.1% as of 1:45 p.m. EST Thursday after the IT products and services distributor announced strong fiscal third-quarter 2018 results.
More specifically, Tech Data's quarterly revenue climbed 11% year over year to $9.34 billion, while adjusted net income soared more than 50% to $116.3 million, or $3.02 per share. Most investors would have settled for earnings of just $2.17 per share on revenue of $8.92 billion.
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So what
Tech Data CEO Rich Hume called it a "strong Q3 performance with great execution across" its three Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions. Tech Data also paid down $100 million of debt and repurchased $44 million in shares during the quarter.
"Our Q3 results reflect the powerful combination of our end-to-end portfolio and strong execution by our global teams," Hume added. "They also validate the strategic role we play in the IT supply chain -- delivering high value through our end-to-end portfolio to channel partners across the broad spectrum of IT products and solutions."
Now what
What's more, for the current fiscal fourth quarter, Tech Data anticipates revenue ranging from $10.5 billion to $10.9 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $3.90 to $4.20. Even the lower ends of both ranges are well above consensus estimates, which predicted fiscal Q4 earnings of $3.77 per share on revenue closer to $10.3 billion.
In the end, this was a straightforward beat-and-raise scenario for Tech Data, and the stock is understandably responding in kind.
