Benefitting from the higher revenues, adjusted earnings moved up 32% to $0.96 per share and came in above analysts’ forecast. Reported profit was $94 million or $0.51 per share, compared to $102 million or $0.55 per share in the third quarter of 2017.
“Adoption of Red Hat’s technologies that enable customers to build and deploy applications more securely and consistently across hybrid and multi-cloud environments continued to drive our growth in Q3,” said CEO Jim Whitehurst.
Last week, Red Hat acquired Boston-based tech firm NooBaa as part of its efforts to boost the high-demand hybrid cloud offerings. The company has been focusing on hybrid cloud architecture and cloud-enabling technologies to remain relevant in the fast-growing sector.
Red Hat stock falls as Q2 revenue disappoints; earnings top estimates
In October, Red Hat agreed to be acquired by International Business Machines (IBM) for $34 billion, in one of the biggest deals in the tech sector in recent times. Shareholders of Red Hat will be voting on the acquisition at a special meeting to be held next month. Owing to the pending buyout deal, the management did not provide its guidance for fiscal 2019.
Red Hat’s competitor Oracle reported earnings of $0.80 per share for the second quarter on revenues of $9.6 billion. The bottom line also exceeded estimates.
Shares of Red Hat maintained a steady uptrend in recent years. After losing momentum mid-year, they surged and hit a record high last month. The stock traded lower during Monday’s regular session and lost further after the earnings report.