Red Hat Q4 Results Top Street, Outlook Strong; Shares Up

(RTTNews) - Red Hat Inc., (RHT), Monday reported a profit and revenues for the fourth quarter that trumped Wall Street estimates. Shares of the Linux software maker gained about 5 percent on a strong outlook.

Raleigh, North Carolina-based Red Hat reported fourth-quarter loss of $12.55 million or $0.07 per share, compared to profit of $25.87 million or $0.36 per share last year.

Profit for the quarter was negatively impacted by a one-time tax charge of $123 million related to the new tax reforms.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $167 million or $0.91 per share, up from $110 million or $0.61 per share last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.81 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter grew 23 percent to $772.33 million from $628.84 million last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $761.60 million for the quarter.

Subscription revenue, which represents the major chunk of revenues, increased 22 percent to $683 million.

"The fourth quarter was a strong finish to the year for Red Hat. We maintained strong subscription revenue growth in both of our major technology categories during the year, enabling Red Hat to exceed a $3 billion annualized revenue run-rate exiting the year," stated Jim Whitehurst, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat.

Looking forward to the full year, Red Hat expects adjusted earnings of about $3.38 to $3.41 per share and revenues of about $3.425 billion to $3.460 billion. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $3.34 per share and revenues of $3.37 billion.

For the first quarter, Red Hat expects adjusted earnings of about $0.68 per share and revenues of $800 million to $810 million. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $0.72 per share and revenues of $794.82 million.

RHT closed Monday's trading at $153.09, up $5.19 or 3.51% on the NYSE. The stock further gained $7.44 or 4.86% in the after-hours trading.