Data storage company Nutanix Inc. is flying high late today after reporting fourth-quarter financial results that easily beat expectations.

The company, which sells so-called hyperconverged information technology infrastructure that integrates compute, storage and networking components, reported a loss before certain costs such as stock compensation of 57 cents per share on revenue of $299.9 million. A year prior, the company reported a loss of 11 cents on revenue of $303.7 million.

Despite both losses and revenue going in the wrong direction, it was much better than what Wall Street had forecast. Analysts had pegged Nutanix’s earnings at a loss of 64 cents per share on revenue of $293.9.

For its full fiscal year 2019, Nutanix reported a net loss of $1.51 per share on revenue of $1.24 billion, up from $1.16 billion a year before. Still, investors liked what they saw, as the company’s stock jumped almost 20% higher in after-hours trading.

Nutanix officials said the decreased quarterly revenue was due to a “reduction of pass-thru hardware” from $35.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2018 to $13 million in the period just done. It also suffered from its ongoing shift to a subscription business model, officials said, though that transition is now almost complete.

Still, there were other positive signs besides the earnings beat. Software and support revenue in the quarter came to $286.9 million, up 7% from a year before. Total billings in the quarter came to $371.7 million. And the company added 990 new customers, including 31 from the Global 2000, bringing its total to 14,180.

Nutanix Chief Executive Officer Dheeraj Pandey (pictured) said the solid performance this quarter was a reflection of the firm’s “execution improvements” and also the “meaningful progress” its made with its business transition.

“We are encouraged by our record gross margins, strengthening pipeline, progress in sales hiring, and recent large customer wins,” Dheeraj said. “We have a strong set of tenured sales leaders in place and continue to lead the industry as an innovator with technology at the forefront of hybrid cloud transformation.”

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller said shareholders seem to be enthusiastic about Nutanix’s prospects now that it’s completed its business model transition.

“Now, it’s key for the company to finish that process in the next quarter and find some top-line growth that shows a path to profitability,” Mueller said. “The next quarter will be key for Nutanix to continue and finish the positive trend.”

Photo: SiliconANGLE