Ahead of its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, hybrid cloud data services company NetApp Inc. is laying off around 5% of its staff amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

While not officially announcing the layoffs, NetApp told The Register that it was “realigning resources and investments to best capture these opportunities and position the company for long-term success.”

“We continue to sharpen our focus on markets where we have both a significant presence and clear competitive advantage, specifically with our storage software and systems and cloud data services,” the company added.

Where employees were being cut was not disclosed. NetApp spun the news as “a continuation of the transformation we are undertaking as we focus on driving growth for more customers globally by enabling their digital transformations and cloud journeys.”

The Register report noted that an all-hands email sent to NetApp employees detailed a 5.5% cut. The company’s marketing department, including technical marketers, was hit hard, along with engineers and developers NetApp inherited with its acquisition of SolidFire Inc. in 2015.

As of its last earnings report, NetApp, one of the industry’s top suppliers of data center storage gear, was solidly profitable but revenue in the quarter dropped 12% year-over-year, to $1.4 billion. That decline was attributed to overall economic conditions driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that coronavirus is ongoing, NetApp’s decision to reduce its headcount is likely driven by the company looking to cut costs as there continues to be no end to the pandemic in sight.

Ahead of its earnings report, the consensus earnings per share estimate for NetApp is 41 cents per share, down 37% year-over-year, on revenue of $1.15 billion, down 7%.

Image: NetApp