What happened
We're not currently in the thick of earnings season, yet sharp-eyed investors are always on the lookout for company results hitting the headlines. One that published its latest quarterly figures on Wednesday was investigative analytics software specialist Cognyte Software (CGNT 4.00%). The company beat convincingly on the bottom line, and investors rewarded it handsomely for the win, sending its stock 7.5% higher on the day.
So what
For the second quarter of its fiscal 2023, Cognyte earned non-GAAP (adjusted) revenue of $81.3 million. That was well down from the nearly $116 million it posted in the same period of fiscal 2022 and also missed the average analyst estimate of $92.5 million by quite some distance.
The story was quite different on the bottom line, however. Even though Cognyte flipped to an adjusted loss of nearly $2.9 million ($0.04 per share) from the year-ago profit of $11.1 million, this was far better than the collective prognosticator estimated shortfall of $0.17.
In its earnings release, Cognyte said that the global economic slowdown was affecting its near-term performance.
Now what
The longer-term future looks better for Cognyte, at least according to its pronouncements. The Israel-based company quoted CEO Elad Sharon as saying that "We are taking actions to focus our resources on the highest potential opportunities, to reduce our cost structure, and to regain visibility."
He added that he and his team are "laser focused" on getting back to growth and profitability. Investors clearly took this to heart, although the company did not provide any guidance in the earnings release.
