Billion Dollar Unicorns: Cloudera Fails To Keep The Market Happy

Earlier this year, Big Data vendor and Billion Dollar Unicorn club member Cloudera filed to go public. Analysts weren’t very optimistic of the company’s valuation on the stock market. But that did not deter the listing. Recent performance suggests that while Cloudera may have lost its earlier lofty valuation, it still manages to stay put in the Unicorn club.

Photo Credit: techmsg/Flickr.com

Cloudera’s Financials

Cloudera (CLDR) recently announced its first quarterly results since it went public. Revenues grew 41% over the year to $79.6 million, ahead of the market’s forecast of $75.84 million. Net loss of $0.27 per share was also better than the Street’s forecast loss of $0.35 for the quarter.

Subscriptions revenues grew 59% to $64.7 million and accounted for 81% of total revenues. A year ago, subscription revenues contributed 72% share to the overall revenues. Services revenues fell 6% over the year to $14.9 million.

Cloudera’s outlook was also better than the market’s expectations. It expects the current quarter revenues at $85-$86 million with an adjusted loss per share of $0.26-$0.24. The market had forecast revenues of $85.6 million and a loss of $0.25. Cloudera forecast revenues for the fiscal year at $345-$350 million with an adjusted loss of $1.07-$1.04 per share. The Street estimated revenues of $338 million and an adjusted loss of $1.07 a share.

Despite the better than expected financials and outlook, the market wasn’t happy with Cloudera’s deferred revenues and billing figures. Billings for the quarter came in at $75.2 million, compared with estimates of $81 million due to the timing issues. Additionally, the average contract duration has also reduced from 20 months to 18 months. Deferred revenue for the company also reduced from $217 million a quarter ago to $213 million, suggesting a slowdown in growth.

Its rising costs is also a concern. During the quarter, Cloudera’s operating expenses grew more than three times to $241.8 million. Its gross margins have also tumbled from a respectable 62% a year ago to under 25% for the quarter.