What happened
Shares of New Relic (NEWR), a data platform company, fell today after the company reported a worse-than-expected loss in its fourth quarter and issued full-year earnings guidance that was far below Wall Street's consensus estimate.
The tech stock fell by as much as 12.9% today and was down by 2.9% as of 3:55 p.m. ET.
So what
The company reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.24 in the fourth quarter, which was an improvement from the $0.27 loss in the year-ago quarter but fell short of analysts' average estimate of a loss of $0.21.
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The company did manage to increase sales by 19% in the quarter to $205.8 million. That was enough to outpace Wall Street's expectation of $204.5 million for the quarter.
New Relic also beat the company's own revenue guidance for the fiscal year. "We finished FY22 with revenues of $786 million, well above the guidance of $710 million we set a year ago," New Relic CEO Bill Staples said in a press release.
But investors were probably unhappy with the company's earnings guidance for the upcoming year. New Relic's management said its adjusted loss per share will be in the range of $0.37 and $0.31, far worse than analysts' consensus average of a loss of $0.10 per share.
Adding to some investor disappointment today could be that New Relic's active customer count hasn't exactly been trending in the right direction. In the first quarter of 2021, the company had 15,400 active customers, but it ended 2022 with 14,800 customers.
Now what
In addition to the not-so-great quarter, New Relic said its chief financial officer, Mark Sachleben, has decided to retire. Sachleben will stay on until the company finds a successor, but the news may have led investors to feel a bit uneasy about the company's future.
Like many other technology stocks, New Relic's share price has stumbled lately. The company's share price is down 61% over the past six months, and its latest quarterly financial report isn't giving investors much confidence.
