NetApp raises annual profit and revenue forecast due to strong demand for data storage

(Reuters) – NetApp on Thursday raised its profit and revenue forecast for fiscal 2025, betting on strong demand for data storage services as customers upgrade their cloud infrastructure, sending the company’s shares up about 4% in extended trading .

Demand for high-capacity data storage has surged as companies integrate artificial intelligence into their cloud platforms to process large amounts of data, benefiting companies like NetApp.

The company now expects its adjusted earnings per share to be between $7.20 and $7.40 in 2025, compared to the previous range of $7 to $7.20.

Additionally, full-year revenue guidance was raised to $6.54 billion to $6.74 billion, from $6.48 billion to $6.68 billion previously expected.

NetApp’s data storage is embedded in some of the world’s largest clouds, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

According to LSEG, the company’s second-quarter revenue was $1.66 billion, beating analysts’ estimate of $1.65 billion.

Net income per share was $1.42, compared to $1.10 a year ago.

The company’s performance was driven by a record quarter in all-flash storage and strong performance in cloud storage services, said CEO George Kurian.

Shares of NetApp have risen more than 40% so far this year, outperforming the S&P 500 index, thanks in part to the announcement of a stock buyback in May.

The company’s executives have also aggressively pursued acquisitions to expand and improve its product portfolio.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)