Strong demand for Commvault Systems Inc.’s data protection software and appliances pushed its revenues to a new record last quarter, the company disclosed in its earnings report today.

Commvault also topped the consensus earnings-per-share estimate.

Nasdaq-listed Commvault sells data protection software that enterprises use to back up their business records and protect them from outages. The company also competes in a few related areas. It sells backup appliances, for protecting business records hosted on in-house infrastructure, and provides software tools that can be used to perform other data management tasks such as reducing information storage costs.

Commvault raked in revenues of $191.3 million during the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, 16% more than the prior year and nearly 5% more than the Zacks consensus estimate. The figure sets a new all-time quarterly sales record for the company.

Commvault’s revenue momentum is the fruit of a recently overhauled product strategy that prioritizes the cloud and subscription-based pricing. The company bought a startup called Hedvig in 2019 and packaged its technology into an appliance, HyperScale X, that companies can use to back up and recover hybrid cloud workloads. In 2020, Commvault expanded its portfolio again with a software-as-a-service backup and recovery service called Metallic.

“HyperScale X is a real flagship product for us,” Commvault Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mirchandani (pictured) told SiliconANGLE in an interview today. As for the Metallic cloud backup and recovery service, Mirchandani revealed that “we’re seeing our ARR double every quarter. Though not the predominant part of our business, we’re very hopeful for it.”

Commvault originally targeted Metallic at small to midsize businesses when the service launched last year. Soon, however, it also started seeing demand from large enterprises.

The magnitude of the new products’ contribution to Commvault’s revenue was showcased in its quarterly revenue breakdown. While total sales rose 16% in the fiscal fourth quarter, the company’s software and products segment jumped 35% year-over-year, to reach $89.4 million. Commvault saw the strongest spending momentum among large customers: revenue from deals worth more than $100,000 surged 39%.

Commvault grew both the number of $100,000-plus deals it signed in the fourth quarter, to 198, and their average value. The average dollar amount of such transactions rose to about $313,000 during the quarter in an increase that represents a 7% year-over-year improvement.

The bottom line improved as well. Commvault generated adjusted net income of $28.5 million from its $191.3 million in fourth quarter revenues. That represents 59 cents per diluted share, well above the 49-cent consensus estimate.

Commvault’s fourth-quarter earnings helped it close the 2021 fiscal year with adjusted net income of $101.1 million on $723.5 million in revenues. 

Looking ahead to the current fiscal year, Mirchandani said that “you’re going to see a ton of great technology continue to come out of us. We’re not slowing down any on that front.”

With reporting from Robert Hof

Photo: Commvault