UPDATED 22:04 EDT / MARCH 01 2017

APPS

Box finally turns cash-flow positive, but investors balk at tepid outlook

Enterprise cloud storage firm Box Inc. ended its fiscal 2017 with a solid fiscal fourth quarter, beating analysts’ expectations and moving to positive free cash flow for the first time since its initial public offering two years ago.

It’s an important milestone for the company, but that success was tempered by first-quarter guidance lower than Wall Street’s projections. Likely as a result, Box’s share price fell by more than 2.5 percent, to $18.05, in after-hours trading. Update: On Thursday, investors were even more unhappy, as shares were falling more than 6 percent.

Box reported a net loss before certain expenses such as stock compensation of 10 cents per share on revenues of $109.9 million, a 29 percent increase from a year ago. That bettered Wall Street’s expected loss of 14 cents per share on revenues of $108.9 million. For the full fiscal year 2017, Box saw revenues of $398.6 million, up 32 percent from its fiscal year 2016.

Box Chief Executive Officer Aaron Levie (pictured) said in a statement that the company had completed a “milestone year,” making good on a promise he made several months ago that it would go cash positive by the end of the year. Chief Financial Officer Dylan Smith added that the company now had free cash flow of over $10 million, a $30 million swing from the year before.

Nonetheless, there was disappointment for investors as the company issued guidance for the next quarter and full year. For the first quarter, the company expects a net loss of 14 to 15 cents per share on revenues of $114 million to $115 million. Wall Street is predicting a net loss of 12 cents per share on revenues of $115 million.

For the full year, Box anticipates revenues of $500 million to $504 million, and a net loss of 45 cents to 49 cents per share, compared with Wall Street’s consensus of $501 million in revenues and a 41-cent loss.

The storage company has seen its share price increase by more than 50 percent in the past year, driven by its expansion into Europe, a greater presence in the financial, government and science industries, and the introduction of new collaboration tools. The vast majority of Box’s sales come from large corporations such as General Electric Co. and Symantec Corp. and government agencies. Box reckons it now has more than 71,000 paying customers, including several thousand that were added during the fourth quarter.

Photo: jdlasica/photopin

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