Quantum: Preliminary Fiscal 3Q14 Financial Results

Quantum Corp. announced preliminary results for the third quarter of fiscal 2014 ended Dec. 31, 2013.

The company expects to report revenue of approximately $145 million to $146 million, which would be above the high end of the guidance range provided during its Oct. 23, 2013 earnings announcement.

The higher revenue reflects strong sequential improvement in sales of Scalar tape automation systems and DXi deduplication appliances and year-over-year revenue growth of approximately 20% from StorNext scale-out storage solutions.

In addition, Quantum expects non-GAAP net income of $6 million to $7 million, which is better than the high end of the previously announced guidance range.

“We’re pleased with the preliminary results we’ve seen for the December quarter, which demonstrate the strength of our product portfolio and expertise in helping customers rethink their storage strategies to serve their evolving business needs,” said Jon Gacek, president and CEO, Quantum. “Over the past year we’ve made good progress in expanding our solution offerings, improving our sales execution and efficiency, and reducing our cost structure. Our Q3 results reflect the benefits of the actions we’ve taken.“

This quarter Quantum will complete the change to a fully outsourced manufacturing model as previously announced last July, eliminating the remaining 120 positions related to this change. The company also plans to eliminate approximately 60 additional positions across various functions this quarter, reflecting reduced resource needs, better organizational efficiencies and a more focused investment strategy heading into the new fiscal year.

As previously disclosed, the outsourcing will reduce overall expense by approximately $10 million annually, primarily reflected in improved non-GAAP gross margin. The additional staffing reductions this quarter are expected to generate $6 million to $8 million annually in further operating expense savings, or $1.5 million to $2.0 million lower quarterly expenses than the comparable period in the prior fiscal year. The changes will take full effect in the company’s fiscal quarter ending June 30, 2014.

“As we begin the new calendar year, we will increase our focus and investment in markets where the combination of changing customer needs and our product and technology strengths offer the greatest opportunities for growth and profitability,” continued Gacek. “In particular, we believe we have an advantage in scale-out shared storage, active archive and cloud-based data protection. We plan to build on our StorNext leadership in end-to-end content workflow, the value of Quantum’s Lattus Object Storage as a forever disk archive, our number one market share position in tape automation and our best-in-class DXi deduplication portfolio.”

In the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, Quantum identified an error related to the accounting for certain allowances for estimated future price adjustments to customers which impacted prior reporting periods. As a result, the company’s financial statements for the third quarter and first nine months of fiscal 2013 have been revised.