What happened
Business intelligence specialist Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK) was doing well on the stock market in the last full trading week of August. According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, as of Thursday market close, its share price was more than 16% higher week to date. This was due largely to a solid earnings report published by the company.
So what
In its second quarter of fiscal 2024, Splunk's revenue totaled just under $910.6 million, which was 14% higher than that of the same period in 2023. Non-GAAP (adjusted) net income ballooned to nearly $135 million, or $0.71 per share, from the year-ago profit of less than $17 million.
Both headline figures crushed analyst estimates. On average, prognosticators following the stock were modeling barely over $889 million on the top line and only $0.46 per share for adjusted net income.
Splunk, which specializes in crunching vast amounts of data for enterprise customers, has attracted attention recently with its involvement in the white-hot field of artificial intelligence (AI). It recently introduced Splunk AI. In the company's words, this "combines automation with human-in-the-loop experiences, so organizations can drive faster detection, investigation and response while controlling how AI is applied to their data."
Now what
Splunk cited recent innovations, such as its AI offering as a driver of growth for the quarter. It'll also likely help lift results in the future, as the company raised its full-year guidance for both revenue and profitability.
For the entirety of fiscal 2024, it's anticipating revenue of nearly $3.93 billion to $3.95 billion. Previously, it was guiding for around $3.69 billion. Its adjusted operating margin should land at 21% to 21.5%, well up from the preceding forecast of 18% to 18.5%.
10 stocks we like better than Splunk
When our analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*
They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Splunk wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.
*Stock Advisor returns as of August 21, 2023
Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Splunk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
