Enterprise performance management and cybersecurity provider NetScout (NASDAQ:NTCT) plunged in pre-market trading on Tuesday after the company announced preliminary Fiscal second quarter and FY24 results. The company lowered its FY24 outlook and now anticipates revenues in the range of $840 million to $860 million as compared to its prior outlook between $915 million and $945 million. Adjusted earnings are likely to be between $2.00 to $2.20 per share. For reference, analysts had forecast FY24 earnings of $0.54 per share on revenues of $223.6 million.
Anil Singhal, Netscout’s President and CEO commented that its order conversion is taking at a slower pace and, “we believe this is related to industry and economic headwinds facing our customers that began to affect our revenue in the last month of the second fiscal quarter and is expected to impact the second half of fiscal year 2024.”
Elaborating on it further, Singhal commented that it is experiencing a slowdown in demand as its customers are spending less on enterprise performance management and cybersecurity projects. This is as they face pressures on capital spending and a “challenging macroeconomic environment.”
The company expects preliminary Q2 revenues to be in the range of $195 million to $197 million and far below analysts’ expectations of $223.6 million.
Adjusted Q2 earnings are likely to be in the range of $0.60 to $0.62 per share, which is above earnings of $0.54 per share. The company is expected to announce its Q2 results on November 2.
NTCT Stock Price Performance
Year-to-date, the price of NTCT stock has tanked by more than 14%. Only one analyst has covered the stock in the past three months and has a Hold rating.
