NetScout Q1 2012 results disappoint, company sets new guidance for FY 2012

Unified service delivery specialist NetScout (NASDAQ:NTCT) said preliminary financial results showed it underperformed in the first quarter, and it would be lowering revenue guidance for the remainder of fiscal 2012, as well as initiating plans to reduce expenses.

The company said it expects GAAP and non-GAAP revenues for the first fiscal quarter to be in the range of $62 million to $64 millionand GAAP net income per diluted share to be in the range of four cents to six cents. It also expects non-GAAP net income per diluted share to be in the range of 11 cents to 13 cents.

Analysts had expected the company to deliver revenues of $71.6 million and earnings of 19 cents per share from the Street.

The Westford, Mass.-based company said its U.S. government new business bookings suffered substantially from budget holds, and it also slipped in its traditionally strong financial services new business.

"We are disappointed by our preliminary results for the first fiscal quarter, which were below our expectations even for what is typically a seasonally slow quarter," said Anil Singhal, president and chief executive of NetScout Systems. "We were successful in growing our service provider and non-financial enterprise businesses year-over-year."

Singhal said NetScout remains "enthusiastic about our position as the market leader in Unified Service Delivery Management based on our unique technology, our recent addition of voice and video management and the growing strength of our customer relationships across our market segments."

The company in March acquired Psytechnics, a provider of QoE management technology for unified communications services.

NetScout said it now expects GAAP and non-GAAP revenue to be in the range of $300 million to $315 million. GAAP net income per diluted share is expected to be in the range of 84 cents to 97 cents, and non-GAAP net income per diluted share is expected to be between $1.07 and $1.19. NetScout will release full earnings July 21.

For more:
- see this release

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