Violin Memory, Inc.VMEM is slated to report third-quarter fiscal 2016 results on Dec 2. Last quarter, the company incurred a loss of 25 cents per share, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 28 cents per share.
Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.
Factors to Consider
Violin Memory’s bottom line in the second quarter beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.71%. Revenues of $15.3 million were up 26% sequentially but below the lower end of the company’s guidance range of $16–$20 million.
Second-quarter revenues were driven by considerably higher sales of Flash Storage Platform primary storage solutions to Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 1000-ranked companies. We expect the trend to positively impact the to-be-reported quarter results.
Going forward, the company believes that over the next several quarters, growth will be driven by new Flash Storage Platform wins and repeat purchases as clients start expanding their initial Flash Storage Platform installations.
Management expects third-quarter revenues within $16–$20 million and gross margins in the range of 53–55%.
Earnings Whispers
Our proven model does not conclusively show that Violin Memory is likely to beat estimates this quarter as it does not have the right combination of two key ingredients. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.
Zacks ESP: Both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at a loss of 23 cents. Hence, the difference is 0.00%.
Zacks Rank: Violin Memory currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 which when combined with a 0.00% ESP, makes surprise prediction difficult.
We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions
Stocks that Warrant a Look
You may consider the following stocks that have a positive Earnings ESP and a favorable Zacks Rank:
Casey's General Stores, Inc. CASY with an Earnings ESP of +2.08% and a Zacks Rank #1.
Costco Wholesale Corporation COST with an Earnings ESP of +2.59% and a Zacks Rank #3.
Francesca's Holdings Corporation FRAN with an Earnings ESP of +6.67% and a Zacks Rank #3.
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