By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) are up over 5% in early Thursday trading after the company reported very strong results.
Pure Storage reported a Q2 EPS of $0.32 to easily surpass the analyst estimate of $0.22. Revenue for the quarter came in at $646.77 million versus the consensus estimate of $636.04 million.
Pure Storage guided to $670 million and $2.75 billion in revenue for Q3 and full-year, respectively. This is better than the average analyst estimate of $651.62 million and $2.64 billion, respectively. The company also beat analyst estimates for the Q3 and FY adjusted operating margin.
A Morgan Stanley analyst hiked the price target by $2 to $35 on strong results, although he remains cautious given the difficult macro environment.
“PSTG outperformed expectations on back of strength in commercial/public sector, along with meaningful opex leverage (some continuing to 2H). Macro overhang leaves us on the sidelines, but walked away encouraged by combination of growth/profitability, particularly as confidence in 2H pipelines grow,” the analyst said in a client note.
A Credit Suisse analyst also hiked the price target as she went to $44 from $36.
“We think strength in Pure Storage performance is primarily driven by share gains with an added boost from the growing storage market, as the company is still building out its portfolio and increasing brand recognition (especially overseas)… We maintain our Outperform rating and Pure Storage remains one of our top picks,” the analyst wrote in a client note.