Box’s stock drops 13% on tepid revenue forecast

Box Inc. reported quarterly results Tuesday roughly in line with analysts’ revenue and earnings estimates, but offered tepid sales guidance.

The results sent shares of Box 
BOX,
+0.72%

down 13% in after-hours trading.

“We are massively focused on Box AI and Box Hubs, which let our customers use AI to ask questions of data and automate workflows,” Box Chief Executive Aaron Levie said in an interview. He acknowledged macroeconomic pressures across Europe and foreign exchange impacted sales during the quarter.

Box AI and Box Hubs bring advanced AI capabilities to Box’s flagship cloud product for enterprise customers.

Levie said the popularity of artificial intelligence among enterprise customers is first showing in the results of infrastructure vendors such as Nvidia Corp. 
NVDA,
+2.33%

and Cisco Systems Inc. 
CSCO,
-0.25%

before it affects applications providers like Box. During its third quarter, Box won or expanded deals with Bose, VMware, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and others.

“We’re happy with big-deal growth, aided by AI tailwinds,” Levie said.

Box posted fiscal third-quarter net income of $10.7 million, or 4 cents a share, compared with net income of $9.9 million, or 3 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings were 36 cents a share.

Revenue increased 5% to $261.5 million from $249.5 million a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected on average net income of 38 cents a share on revenue of $262 million.

Box executives said they anticipate sales of $1.037 billion to $1.039 billion in the fiscal year. Analysts polled by FactSet are expecting $1.043 billion.

Shares of Box have declined 14% this year, while the S&P 500 index 
SPX
is up 19%.

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