Big-data company Cloudera Inc. today posted positive quarterly results ahead of its expected merger with rival firm Hortonworks Inc. announced two months ago.

The results came in ahead of Wall Street’s expectations. For the third quarter, Cloudera recorded a loss that narrowed from the same period a year ago, aided by a 25 percent jump in revenue, to $118.2 million.

Its net loss came in at 17 cents per share, or $26.5 million, down from a 40-cent net loss a year ago. The loss before certain costs such as stock compensation came to just 3 cents a share. Wall Street was expecting Cloudera to post an adjusted loss of 11 cents per share on revenue of $113.9 million.

The company also saw strong growth in its all-important subscription revenue, which rose 28 percent from a year ago, to $99.7 million.

Cloudera’s third-quarter results come as the company rushes to complete its merger with Hortonworks, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019. Hortonworks is Cloudera’s main rival in the big-data market, so once the deal is done it should mean that the newly combined company will have the biggest independent presence in big-data software and services, potentially allowing it to raise prices and move to profitability faster after years of bleeding cash.

Analysts had previously said Cloudera was on track to reach profitability within the next year anyway. It remains to be seen how the merger will impact that forecast given that Hortonworks is also unprofitable.

But analysts believe the companies will emerge from the deal in a better position to take on big cloud computing companies such as Amazon Web Services Inc., as well as smaller rivals in big data such as MapR Technologies Inc.

“Cloudera executed well with good revenue and subscription growth, making the overall year look better,” said Holger Mueller, principal analyst and vice president of Constellation Research Inc. “But now the question looms on how well Cloudera and Hortonworks can do together.”

The two firms’ shareholders will have a final vote on the merger on Dec. 28, it was reported this week. Cloudera Chief Executive Tom Reilly said the deal was on track to be completed by the expected date.

“We are pleased with our execution in Q3 and our progress on the strategic combination we have announced with Hortonworks,” Reilly said in a statement. “Pre-closing merger integration planning is going well. And more importantly, we are very encouraged by the reception that our plans are receiving from customers, partners and the developer community.”

It’s not immediately clear how Cloudera, which essentially will be the surviving company, and Hortonworks will report earnings once the merger has been finalized. Following its own earnings call last month, Hortonworks executives refused to provide any guidance for the fourth quarter, but today Cloudera did.

It said it’s expecting a net loss of 10 to 12 cents a share on revenue of $119 million to $122 million. Cloudera also raised its full-year guidance, saying it expects revenue of $450 million to $453 million, up from its earlier forecast of $440 million to $450 million.

The U.S. stock market was closed today in honor of the death and funeral today of former President George H.W. Bush.

Photo: Robert Hof/SiliconANGLE