NetApp Issues 13% Rise In Q4 Net Income, Guidance Looks Concerning

reported its fourth-quarter 2014 earnings after the close Thursday, with earnings per share of $0.84 beating analyst expectations of $0.79. Revenue came in at $1.65 billion, missing analyst's consensus estimate of $1.67 billion. Somewhat concerning to the Street was a decrease in product sales of 8.3 percent to $1.04 billion. Net income for the quarter was up to $197 million, versus $173.8 million in the same quarter in 2013. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter came in at $2.291 billion, well below the same quarter in 2013 where they came in at $3.277 billion. Other highlights from the report include a quarterly dividend boost from $0.15 per share to $0.165 per share. The company released an outlook for the first quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, guiding earnings per share in a range of $0.53 to $0.58, below consensus estimates of $0.62. Sales are expected to be in a range of $1.42 billion to $1.52 billion, once again below the analyst estimate of $1.52 billion. Following the report, shares dipped slightly in the post market, and are now trading down about 0.4 percent to $34.35.