Red Hat’s Q4 revenue jumps 23%

Open source software giant Red Hat (RHT) reported its fourth quarter 2018 results with revenue jumping 22.8% to $772.3 million. However, profit on a reported basis was impacted by the one-time impact of the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The company reported a loss of $13 million or $0.07 per share for the quarter when compared to a net income of $65.8 million or $0.36 per share a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Red Hat reported earnings of $0.91 per share, which was up 49.1% year-over-year.

Subscription Revenue

Red Hat maintained good subscription growth in both of its major technology categories for the year, enabling the company to cross a $3 billion annualized revenue run rate for the year. Subscription revenue from Infrastructure-related offerings jumped 17% to $510 million, or 13% in constant currency during the recently ended quarter. Subscription revenue from Application Development-related and other emerging technology offerings for the quarter surged 39% to $173 million.

Outlook

For fiscal year 2019, the company expects revenue to be in the range of $3.425 billion to $3.460 billion, while GAAP earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $2.25 to $2.28. On a non-GAAP basis, Red Hat expects earnings to be in the range of $3.38 to $3.41.

For first quarter of 2019, Red Hat expects revenue to be $800 million to $810 million, with GAAP diluted earnings per share targeted to be about $0.42. Non-GAAP earnings per share is estimated to be about $0.68 for the quarter.

With the above estimate sales and earnings results for the quarter and upbeat outlook, the stock climbed 5% in after-hours trading.