Box Inc (NYSE:BOX) shares were off by more than 7% in Wednesday’s after-hours trading thanks to a miss on billings that overshadowed an otherwise upside-surprising first-quarter earnings report.
Billing of $75.9 million were up 9% year-over-year, but came in well short of $84 million. Box management blamed “increasing seasonality in the business and the focus on annual payment durations from multi-year prepayments, beginning this fiscal year.”
Otherwise, the report had a few things to like.
Revenues of $90.16 million were an all-time Q1 high for the company, and represented 37% year-over-year growth. That figure beat Wall Street estimates of $88.65 million, as did a non-GAAP loss of 18 cents per share of BOX stock. That was down from 28 cents in the year-ago period, and thinner than the 24-cent loss expected by analysts.
Other highlights:
- The company is now guiding second-quarter revenues of $94 million to $95 million, which will filter down to a loss of 19 to 20 cents per share of BOX stock; the former figure is in line with estimates, and the latter figure topped expectations of -22 cents.
- Full-year revenue guidance of $391 million to $395 million also met expectations, and its full-year profit guidance of -78 cents to -75 cents is better than the consensus estimate for -84 cents.
- The company’s customer base is now 62,000, up more than 5,000 for the quarter.
- BOX’s cash burn shrunk from $17.3 million a year ago to $16.2 million.
If Wednesday’s losses stand, BOX stock is in danger of roughly doubling its year-to-date declines.
