What happened
Shares of Nutanix (NTNX 1.89%) tumbled on Thursday after the cloud software company reported its fiscal second-quarter results. Nutanix beat analyst estimates across the board, but the company cut its guidance for the full year. The stock was down about 26.2% at 11:45 a.m. EST.
So what
Nutanix reported second-quarter revenue of $346.8 million, up 3.4% year over year and roughly $4.9 million higher than the average analyst estimate. Billings totaled $428.1 million, up 3.6% from the prior-year period. During the quarter, 79% of the total billings came from subscriptions. Subscription billings were up 45% year over year, while subscription revenue soared 69%.
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Non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share came in at a loss of $0.60, worse than a loss of $0.23 in the prior-year period but $0.09 better than analysts were expecting. Nutanix posted a per-share loss of $1.13 on a GAAP basis, which works out to a total loss of $217.6 million. Operating expenses soared during the quarter, particularly sales and marketing costs.
Nutanix is transitioning to a subscription-based business model, which is putting pressure on both revenue and profits. Revenue from subscriptions is recognized over time, while the costs associated with winning a subscription customer are largely recognized up front.
Now what
For fiscal 2020, Nutanix now expects to report software and support billings between $1.60 billion and $1.67 billion and software and support revenue between $1.29 billion and $1.36 billion. Previously, the company had provided guidance ranges of $1.65 billion to $1.75 billion and $1.30 billion to $1.40 billion, respectively.
The guidance cut was driven by the faster-than-expected subscription transition and a more cautious view on the Asia-Pacific region due to the coronavirus outbreak. Including Thursday's rout, shares of Nutanix are now down about 52% over the past year.
