Aruba Networks Q4 Loss Widens, But Tops View

(RTTNews) - Aruba Networks Inc. (ARUN) Thursday reported a loss for the fourth quarter that widened from a year ago, hurt mainly by legal settlement costs and higher expenses, despite growth in revenues. Nonetheless, adjusted earnings trumped analysts' estimates by a penny, while revenues also surpassed expectations.

Aruba's revenues for the three-month period grew to $153.1 million from $139.3 million last year. Twenty-five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had a consensus revenue estimate of $149.33 million for the quarter.

"We exceeded our fourth quarter revenue expectations and added a record number of new customers," said Chief Executive Dominic Orr said. "This performance was driven by strong execution, improvements across most of our geographical theatres and increased demand in our core verticals globally."

Aruba's fourth-quarter loss widened to $16.3 million or $0.14 per share from $3.0 million or $0.03 per share a year ago.

Adjusted earnings dropped to $0.12 per share from $0.18 per share last year. On average, 26 analysts on consensus expected earnings of $0.11 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company recorded a legal settlement of $14.0 million for the latest fourth quarter.

Gross margins for the quarter dropped to 70.1 percent from 71.4 percent last year. The company's total operating expenses increased to $127.7 million from $94.0 million last year.

ARUN closed Thursday's regular trade at $18.08, up $0.03 or 0.17%, on a volume of 2.8 million shares on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $0.01 or 0.06% in after hours trade.