NetApp (NTAP) is scheduled to report results of its fiscal second quarter after the market close on Wednesday, November 14, with a conference call scheduled for 5:30 pm ET. What to watch for: 1. EPS CONSENSUS UP A TICK: Along with its last report, NetApp guided for Q2 adjusted earnings per share in the range of 94c-$1.00 on revenue of $1.45B-$1.55B. At the time, analysts were expecting the company to report Q2 EPS of 97c on revenue of $1.51B. The current Q2 EPS consensus estimate has risen to 99c while the $1.51B revenue estimate remains the same. 2. STACKPOINTCLOUD ACQUISITION: On September 18, NetApp announced that it acquired StackPointCloud, a player in multi-cloud Kubernetes as-a-service and a contributor to the Kubernetes project. NetApp said at the time that the acquisition gives it an advanced Kubernetes-as-a-service platform that directly supports the application orchestration capabilities of NetApp's Data Fabric. A little over two weeks after the news, Loop Capital analyst Ananda Baruah maintained his Buy rating and $98 price target on NetApp, saying the acquisition of Stackpoint offers "robustness" and cost efficiency. 3. LOOP POSITIVE ON NETAPP: Loop Capital's Baruah maintained his Buy rating and $98 price target on NetApp in late October, saying that he was still as "enthusiastic" about his bullish thesis, with an added belief that the company could offer "even more muscle than we realize." Baruah added at the time that the market may have been underappreciating NetApp's "full force" of services offerings. Today, Baruah once again maintained his rating and price target, saying that NetApp is positioned to be a leading beneficiary in storage adoption. 4. STIFEL SEES CONTINUED MOMENTUM: Stifel analyst Matthew Sheerin said today that his checks with storage-focused value-added-resellers pointed to continued strong external storage sales momentum in the September quarter, adding that he is expecting relatively strong results for NetApp and Pure Storage (PSTG), which he believes are both market share gainers. Sheerin added that he continues to favor NetApp and maintained a Buy rating on the stock.
