NetApp (NTAP) is scheduled to report results of its fiscal third quarter after the market close on Wednesday, February 13, with a conference call scheduled for 5:30 pm ET. What to watch for: 1. Q3 EPS CONSENSUS UP A TICK: Along with its last report, NetApp guided for Q3 adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.12-$1.18 on revenue of $1.55B-$1.65B. At the time, analysts were guided for Q3 EPS of $1.12, but that figure has since risen to $1.15. The Wall Street consensus estimate for Q3 revenue remains unchanged at $1.6B. 2. MORGAN STANLEY IT HARDWARE INDUSTRY NOTE: Last month, Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty downgraded her IT hardware industry view to In-Line from Attractive, saying that hardware spending plans fell more than any other technology category across U.S. and European CIOs in the firm's recent checks. Slowing growth, which the analyst attributed to waning cyclical benefits, make it harder to own hardware-heavy data center stocks in the near term, Huberty told investors in a research note. At the time, the analyst downgraded NetApp to Underweight from Equal Weight and cut her price target on the shares to $58 from $72, citing her view that revenue growth will likely slow materially on more difficult compares in the coming quarters. 3. PIPER STORAGE SURVEY: Earlier this week, Piper Jaffray analyst Andrew Nowinski released a research note saying the firm had conducted its fiscal fourth quarter Storage Reseller Survey by collecting feedback from 28 resellers and distributors. The analyst said that while only five of 14 vendors had net positive versus six of the 14 last quarter, the firm saw "strong results" for Pure Storage (PSTG), Rubrik, Nutanix (NTNX), Veeam, and NetApp. Nowinski noted that Pure Storage also had the strongest pipeline heading into the April quarter, adding that the company's results sharply improved in the survey, with 67% of resellers citing "Above Plan" results, the highest level seen in three years.
