On Wednesday afternoon, NetApp (NTAP) announced that its second-quarter profit came in more than twice that from the same period a year ago. The company raked in 27 cents per share during the quarter, compared to 13 cents per share a year ago. Excluding items, the tech firm would have pulled in 37 cents per share. Expectations called for earnings of 30 cents per share on revenue of $881.6 million. Actual revenue came in at $910 million, handily topping the consensus estimate.NTAP's CFO, Steve Gomo, attributed the far better-than-expected earnings to improved sales of the company's main storage-area-networking. This product helps businesses build their data storage operations.
Looking ahead to the third quarter, NTAP believes it will earn between 24 and 25 cents per share with revenue between $935 million and $955 million. Excluding items, the range is 36 to 37 cents per share. The Street expects NTAP to earn 36 cents per share (excluding items) with revenue of $921.6 million.
After-hours trading saw NTAP advance 3% to trade north of the $30 region. In the past three months, shares of the data storage company have added roughly 37% and were battling overhead resistance in the $30 region. Last night's news and subsequent rally may have given the stock the impetus to put the $30 region in the rear-view mirror. In addition, the stock's 10-month moving average has completed a bullish cross of its 20-month moving average. This technical formation is often a prelude to a continued run higher.
Combine this technical formation with last night's news and we could see the stock continue the rally it started in March.
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