What happened
Shares of Rackspace Technology (RXT 3.07%) soared on Thursday, on the heels of an impressive third-quarter earnings report. The stock had gained 30.5% at 2:25 p.m. ET.
So what
Rackspace reported adjusted earnings of $0.10 per share, down from $0.25 per share in the year-ago quarter. Top-line sales rose by 3.2% to $788 million. The Street's consensus estimate pointed to earnings near $0.09 per share on revenue of roughly $773 million.
The provider of multicloud technology services saw double-digit sales growth in the Asia-Pacific market and an 8% growth spurt in Europe, but only on a currency-adjusted basis. The revenue growth was diminished by the rising value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies around the world.
Now what
The company is simplifying its reporting structure from three divisions to two. In the new structure, Rackspace will manage public cloud services as one segment and private clouds in another one. This reporting setup will make its debut with the fourth-quarter report in three months.
Furthermore, Rackspace just installed a new lead director, who effectively serves as the chairman of the board. The new leader is Shashank Samant, who recently led digital engineering company GlobalLogic to a $9.6 billion buyout by Japanese tech giant Hitachi. The press release highlighted Samant's decades of experience with digital technology services. However, his skill in setting up profitable buyouts and close association with private capital firm Apollo Global may point to an upcoming sale of the company.
Whether Rackspace goes looking for a buyer or battles on as an independent company, this report showed some robust signs of life and the stock is dirt cheap. Rackspace shares are valued at just 7.9 times adjusted earnings, after today's sudden price jump and including the latest financial data.
