Pure Storage Announces Record Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2017 Financial Results

03.01.2017

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 31, 2017.

Key quarterly business and financial highlights include:

  • Record quarterly revenue of $227.9 million, up 52% Y/Y, 2.2% above midpoint of guidance
  • Record full year revenue of $728.0 million, up 65% Y/Y, 3.3% above midpoint of guidance
  • Record quarterly operating leverage, GAAP margin of -18.6%, 10.0 ppts improvement Y/Y and non-GAAP margin of -1.9%, 12.0 ppts improvement Y/Y
  • Positive momentum in unstructured data market with FlashBlade now generally available

"Pure Storage is delivering the data platform for the cloud era, helping customers put data to work for their businesses," said Pure Storage CEO Scott Dietzen. "This year, Pure expects to reach $1 billion in revenue - a remarkable achievement and evidence that we're only just getting started. We could not be more excited about the opportunities ahead."

"Q4 was a solid quarter and a strong end to our fiscal 2017 with consistent year-over-year revenue growth and a strong improvement in our operating leverage," said Pure Storage CFO Tim Riitters. "We are confident in our outlook for fiscal 2018 and remain focused on executing steadily on our business model for continued growth and industry leadership."

A record 450 new customers joined Pure Storage this quarter, increasing the total to more than 3,000 organizations, including more than 20% of the Fortune 500. New customer wins in the quarter include: Hulu, KONAMI, Optus Business, Royal Philips, Phreesia and Subway. New FlashBlade customer wins include: the National Hockey League, law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters and geoscience solutions provider ION.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2017 Financial Highlights

The following tables summarize our consolidated financial results for the fiscal quarters ended January 31, 2016 and 2017 (in millions except per share amounts, unaudited):

GAAP Quarterly Financial Information


Three Months Ended
January 31, 2016

Three Months Ended
January 31, 2017

Y/Y
Change

Revenue

$150.2

$227.9

52%

Gross Margin  

65.3%

65.3%

0.0 ppts

Product Gross Margin

68.2%

66.5%

-1.7 ppts

Support Gross Margin

49.5%

59.6%

10.1 ppts

Operating Loss

-$42.9

-$42.5

$0.4

Operating Margin

-28.6%

-18.6%

10.0 ppts

Net Loss

-$44.3

-$42.9

$1.4

Net Loss per Share

-$0.24

-$0.21

$0.03

Weighted-Average Shares (Basic and Diluted)

187.4

201.0

13.6

 

Non-GAAP Quarterly Financial Information


Three Months Ended
January 31, 2016

Three Months Ended
January 31, 2017

Y/Y
Change

Gross Margin

66.0%

66.1%

0.1 ppts

Product Gross Margin

68.3%

66.6%

-1.7 ppts

Support Gross Margin

53.4%

63.6%

10.2 ppts

Operating Loss

-$20.9

-$4.4

$16.5

Operating Margin

-13.9%

-1.9%

12.0 ppts

Net Loss

-$22.3

-$4.8

$17.5

Net Loss per Share

-$0.12

-$0.02

$0.10

Weighted-Average Shares (Basic and Diluted)

187.4

201.0

13.6

Free Cash Flow

$32.1

$25.3

-$6.8

A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP information is provided at the end of this release.

Financial Outlook

Full Year Fiscal 2018 Guidance:

  • Revenue in the range of $975 million to $1,025 million
  • Non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 63.5% to 66.5%
  • Non-GAAP operating margin in the range of -9% to -5%

First Quarter Fiscal 2018 Guidance:

  • Revenue in the range of $171 million to $179 million
  • Non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 63.5% to 66.5%
  • Non-GAAP operating margin in the range of -27% to -23%

All forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures contained in this section titled "Financial Outlook" exclude stock-based compensation expense, payroll tax expense related to stock-based activities and, as applicable, other special items. We have not reconciled guidance for non-GAAP gross margin and non-GAAP operating margin to their most directly comparable GAAP measures because such items that impact these measures are not within our control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted. Accordingly, a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measure guidance to the corresponding GAAP measures is not available without unreasonable effort.

Conference Call Information

Pure Storage will host a teleconference to discuss the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017 results at 2:00 p.m. (PT) on March 1, 2017. Pure Storage will post its supplemental earnings presentation to the investor relations website at investor.purestorage.com following the conference call. Teleconference details are as follows:

  • To Listen via Telephone: 877-201-0168 or 647-788-4901 (for international callers).
  • To Listen via the Internet: A live and replay audio broadcast of the conference call with corresponding slides will be available at investor.purestorage.com.
  • Replay: A telephone playback of this conference call is scheduled to be available two hours after the call ends on March 1, 2017, through March 8, 2017. The replay will be accessible by calling 1-800-585-8367 or 1-416-621-4642 (for international callers), with conference ID 59578076. The call runs 24 hours per day, including weekends.

CEO Commentary

Pure Storage has posted a blog from its CEO discussing fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017 results at investor.purestorage.com and blog.purestorage.com.

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG) helps companies push the boundaries of what's possible. The company's all-flash based technology, combined with its customer-friendly business model, drives business and IT transformation with Smart Storage that is effortless, efficient and evergreen. Pure Storage offers two flagship products: FlashArray//M, optimized for structured workloads, and FlashBlade, ideal for unstructured data. With Pure's industry leading Satmetrix-certified NPS score of 83.5, Pure customers are some of the happiest in the world, and include organizations of all sizes, across an ever-expanding range of industries.

Connect with Pure Storage:
Read the blog 
Converse on Twitter 
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Analyst Recognition:
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Solid-State Arrays 
IDC MarketScape for All-Flash Arrays

Pure Storage, Evergreen, FlashBlade and the "P" Logo mark are trademarks of Pure Storage, Inc. All other trademarks or names referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding our products, business and operations, including our expectations regarding technology differentiation, including momentum with FlashBlade, our opportunity and ability to execute for continued growth and industry leadership, and our outlook for the first quarter and full year fiscal 2018 and statements regarding our products, business, operations and results, including progress toward profitability. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted include, among others, those risks and uncertainties included under the captions "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our filings and reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2016, which are available on our investor relations website at investor.purestorage.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2017. All information provided in this release and in the attachments is as of March 1, 2017, and we undertake no duty to update this information unless required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement our condensed consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, we use the following non-GAAP financial measures: non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating loss, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net loss, non-GAAP net loss per share, free cash flow, and free cash flow as a percentage of revenue. In computing these non-GAAP financial measures, we exclude the effects of stock-based compensation expense and payroll tax expense related to stock-based activities. The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP.

We use these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision-making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. Our management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance and liquidity by excluding certain expenses and expenditures such as stock-based compensation expense that may not be indicative of our ongoing core business operating results. We believe that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing our performance and when analyzing historical performance and liquidity and planning, forecasting, and analyzing future periods. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP, and our non-GAAP measures may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies.

For a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP measures, please see the tables captioned "Reconciliations of non-GAAP results of operations to the nearest comparable GAAP measures" and "Reconciliation from net cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow," included at the end of this release.

PURE STORAGE, INC.

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(in thousands)








As of


As of



January 31, 2016


January 31, 2017



(unaudited)

Assets





Current assets:





   Cash and cash equivalents


$           604,742


$           183,675

   Marketable securities


-


362,986

   Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $944 and $2,000


126,324


168,978

   Inventory


20,649


23,498

   Deferred commissions, current


15,703


15,787

   Prepaid expenses and other current assets


20,652


25,157

     Total current assets


788,070


780,081

Property and equipment, net


52,629


81,695

Intangible assets, net


6,980


6,560

Deferred income taxes, non-current


536


844

Other assets, non-current


22,568


30,565

          Total assets


$           870,783


$           899,745






Liabilities and stockholders' equity





Current liabilities:





   Accounts payable


$             38,187


$             52,719

   Accrued compensation and benefits


32,995


39,252

   Accrued expenses and other liabilities


14,076


21,697

   Deferred revenue, current


94,514


158,095

   Liability related to early exercised stock options


4,760


1,362

     Total current liabilities   


184,532


273,125

Deferred revenue, non-current


121,690


145,031

Other liabilities, non-current


1,207


3,159

     Total liabilities


307,429


421,315






Stockholders' equity:





Common stock and additional paid-in capital


1,118,689


1,281,472

Accumulated other comprehensive loss


-


(562)

Accumulated deficit


(555,335)


(802,480)

Total stockholders' equity


563,354


478,430






         Total liabilities and stockholders' equity


$           870,783


$           899,745

 

PURE STORAGE, INC.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

(in thousands, except per share data)












Three Months Ended January 31,


Twelve Months Ended January 31,



2016


2017


2016


2017



(unaudited)

Revenue:









  Product 


$127,350


$186,820


$  375,733


$  590,001

  Support


22,881


41,040


64,600


137,976

Total revenue


150,231


227,860


440,333


727,977










Cost of revenue:









  Product (1) 


40,522


62,532


132,870


194,150

  Support (1)


11,544


16,598


35,023


58,129

Total cost of revenue


52,066


79,130


167,893


252,279










Gross profit


98,165


148,730


272,440


475,698










Operating expenses:









  Research and development (1) 


53,710


72,632


166,645


245,817

  Sales and marketing (1)


68,927


97,962


240,574


360,035

  General and administrative (1) (2)


18,461


20,631


75,402


84,652

  Legal settlement (3)


-


-


-


30,000

Total operating expenses


141,098


191,225


482,621


720,504










Loss from operations


(42,933)


(42,495)


(210,181)


(244,806)

Other income (expense), net


(757)


500


(2,002)


1,627

Loss before provision for income taxes


(43,690)


(41,995)


(212,183)


(243,179)

Provision for income taxes


604


920


1,569


1,887

Net loss


$ (44,294)


$ (42,915)


$(213,752)


$(245,066)










Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted


$    (0.24)


$    (0.21)


$      (2.59)


$      (1.26)










Weighted-average shares used in computing net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted


187,365


201,024


82,460


194,714










(1) Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:


















Cost of revenue -- product


$       137


$       176


$        276


$        601

Cost of revenue -- support


877


1,657


2,388


5,639

Research and development


12,511


22,620


31,135


63,495

Sales and marketing


6,427


9,598


16,966


34,317

General and administrative 


2,075


3,488


7,460


12,616

Total stock-based compensation expense


$  22,027


$  37,539


$   58,225


$  116,668













(2) Includes a one-time charge of $11.9 million for an equity grant to the Pure Good Foundation in the twelve months ended January 31, 2016.


(3) Represents a one-time charge for our legal settlement with Dell, Inc.

 

PURE STORAGE, INC.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(in thousands)












Three Months Ended January 31,


Twelve Months Ended January 31,



2016


2017


2016


2017



(unaudited)

Cash flows from operating activities









Net loss


$ (44,294)


$ (42,915)


$(213,752)


$(245,066)

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities:









    Depreciation and amortization


9,136


14,225


32,254


50,203

    Stock-based compensation expense


22,027


37,539


58,225


116,668

    Contribution of common stock to Pure Good Foundation


-


-


11,900


-

    Other


(1,093)


533


(1,093)


1,584

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:









    Accounts receivable, net


(14,198)


(5,863)


(67,292)


(44,049)

    Inventory


4,901


(3,587)


1,481


(3,776)

    Deferred commissions


(4,549)


(2,584)


(13,021)


(740)

    Prepaid expenses and other assets


(6,639)


(6,172)


(8,704)


(6,133)

    Accounts payable


14,677


7,005


24,901


10,644

    Accrued compensation and other liabilities


7,494


12,595


24,710


19,381

    Deferred revenue


54,548


26,742


142,535


86,922

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities


42,010


37,518


(7,856)


(14,362)










Cash flows from investing activities









    Purchases of property and equipment


(9,861)


(12,171)


(39,355)


(76,773)

    Purchases of intangible assets


-


-


-


(1,000)

    Purchases of marketable securities


-


(43,159)


-


(526,717)

    Sales of marketable securities


-


34,539


-


114,354

    Maturities of marketable securities


-


10,300


-


48,513

    Net increase in restricted cash


-


-


(2,485)


(5,600)

Net cash used in investing activities


(9,861)


(10,491)


(41,840)


(447,223)










Cash flows from financing activities









    Proceeds from initial public offering, net 


-


-


459,425


-

    Net proceeds from exercise of stock options


1,298


4,187


6,008


14,912

    Proceeds from issuance of common stock under employee stock purchase plan


-


-


-


25,606

    Payments of deferred offering costs


(2,012)


-


(3,702)


-

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities


(714)


4,187


461,731


40,518










Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents


31,435


31,214


412,035


(421,067)

Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period


573,307


152,461


192,707


604,742

Cash and cash equivalents, end of period


$604,742


$183,675


$  604,742


$  183,675

 

Reconciliations of non-GAAP results of operations to the nearest comparable GAAP measures 















The following table presents non-GAAP gross margins by revenue source before certain items (in thousands, unaudited):




















Three Months Ended January 31, 2016


Three Months Ended January 31, 2017


GAAP
results

GAAP
gross
margin (a)

Adjustment


Non-GAAP
results

Non-GAAP
gross
margin (b)


GAAP
results

GAAP
gross
margin (a)

Adjustment


Non-GAAP
results

Non-GAAP
gross
margin (b)


















$         137

(c)






$         176

(c)













1

(d)



Gross profit -- product

$  86,828

68.2%

$         137


$  86,965

68.3%


$     124,288

66.5%

$         177


$ 124,465

66.6%
































$         877

(c)






$      1,657

(c)













22

(d)



Gross profit -- support

$  11,337

49.5%

$         877


$  12,214

53.4%


$       24,442

59.6%

$      1,679


$   26,121

63.6%
































$      1,014

(c)






$      1,833

(c)













23

(d)



Total gross profit

$  98,165

65.3%

$      1,014


$  99,179

66.0%


$     148,730

65.3%

$      1,856


$ 150,586

66.1%





























(a) GAAP gross margin is defined as gross profit divided by revenue.

(b) Non-GAAP gross margin is defined as non-GAAP gross profit divided by revenue.

(c) To eliminate stock-based compensation expense.

(d) To eliminate payroll tax expense related to stock-based activities.

 

The following table presents certain non-GAAP consolidated results before certain items (in thousands, except per share amounts, unaudited):
















Three Months Ended January 31, 2016


Three Months Ended January 31, 2017


GAAP
results

GAAP
operating
margin (a)

Adjustment


Non-GAAP
results

Non-GAAP
operating
margin (b)


GAAP
results

GAAP
operating
margin (a)

Adjustment


Non-GAAP
results

Non-GAAP
operating
margin (b)


















$    22,027

(c)






$    37,539

(c)













601

(d)

















Loss from operations

$(42,933)

-28.6%

$    22,027


$(20,906)

-13.9%


$      (42,495)

-18.6%

$    38,140


$   (4,355)

-1.9%


















$    22,027

(c)






$    37,539

(c)













601

(d)

















Net loss

$(44,294)


$    22,027


$(22,267)



$      (42,915)


$    38,140


$   (4,775)
















Net loss per share -- basic and diluted

$    (0.24)




$    (0.12)



$         (0.21)




$     (0.02)
















Weighted-average shares used in per share calculation -- basic and diluted

187,365




187,365



201,024




201,024
















(a) GAAP operating margin is defined as loss from operations divided by revenue.

(b) Non-GAAP operating margin is defined as non-GAAP loss from operations divided by revenue.




(c) To eliminate stock-based compensation expense.

(d) To eliminate payroll tax expense related to stock-based activities.

 

Reconciliation from net cash provided by operating activities to free cash flow (in thousands, unaudited):



Three Months Ended January 31,


2016


2017

Net cash provided by operating activities 

$42,010


$37,518

Less: purchases of property and equipment 

(9,861)


(12,171)

Free cash flow 

$32,149


$25,347

Free cash flow as % of revenue

21.4%


11.1%

 

 

 

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SOURCE Pure Storage

Michael Pak - IR contact, Pure Storage, Tel: (650) 243-0486, ir@purestorage.com, Liz Allbright - media contact, Pure Storage, Tel: (415) 671-7676, pr@purestorage.com