UPDATED 17:56 EDT / DECEMBER 05 2023

CLOUD

Fiscal challenges for Box as earnings, revenue and outlook fall short of projections

Shares in Box Inc. dropped over 10% in late trading today after the file-sharing company missed on earnings and revenue in its fiscal third quarter and issued a lower outlook than expected.

For the quarter that ended Oct. 31, Box reported adjusted earnings per share of 36 cents, up from 31 cents in the same quarter of last year, on revenue of $261.5 million, up 5% year-over-year. Analysts were expecting adjusted earnings of 38 cents per share on revenue of $262.37 million.

Billings in the quarter declined 2% from a year ago, to $253.7 million, while remaining performance obligations were $1.131 billion as of the end of October, up 7%. Net cash provided by operating activities was $71.8 million, up 4%, and Box had $440 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments on hand as of the end of the quarter.

Recent business highlights include Box announcing on Oct. 11 that it intends to launch a new feature called Box Hubs early next year. The new feature will be deeply integrated with Box AI and will offer a suite of generative artificial intelligence-powered tools that promise to make enterprise workers much more productive.

On Nov. 1, Box announced an integration with Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform to enable enterprises to build generative artificial intelligence features that can help users more easily process and analyze data stored within Box Content Cloud. The integration will see Box expand its use of Google Cloud’s infrastructure platform and integrate its content management system with Google Workspace.

“We continue to execute on our Content Cloud strategy, creating the only end-to-end platform that can help customers power their complete content lifecycle in a single architecture,” Aaron Levie (pictured), co-founder and chief executive of Box, said in the company’s earnings release. “By demonstrating our product leadership with Box AI and Box Hubs, we are delivering the platform that customers need to meet the demands of the rapidly evolving era of AI-powered work.”

For its fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, Box expects adjusted earnings per share of 38 to 39 cents on revenue of $262 million to $264 million. Both were misses, as analysts expected 42 cents and $266.96 million. It was a similar story with the full-year outlook, with Box forecasting adjusted earnings per share of $1.42 to $1.43 on revenue of $1.037 billion to $1.039 billion, versus an expected $1.04 billion and $1.49.

Levie addressed the misses in an interview with Barron’s, saying that though the company has seen stabilization of its U.S. business, it continues to grapple with lingering macroeconomic issues in other markets. Levie also noted that unfavorable currency exchange rates had affected profit and that it received slightly less revenue than expected from the sale of some used data center hardware.

Photo: JD Lasica/Flickr

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