Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) is red hot.
The world’s top Linux software developer and services provider reported strong revenue and earnings growth in its latest earnings report. Both figures surpassed expectations. Earlier Thursday, Red Hat announced another acquisition – this time an $82 million deal for a mobile-cloud applications firm Feed Henry in Ireland.
Revenue totaled $446 million in its most recent quarter, up 19 percent from the same period in 2013.
Earnings, meanwhile, climbed 17 percent to 41 cents a year.
According to financial news site Zacks, Red Hat expected to report revenue of up to $436 million and earnings of 32 to 33 cents per share.
“Broad demand for open source technologies, combined with Red Hat’s value proposition and market leadership position, has helped to drive organic revenue growth in the mid-to-high teens for the last 10 quarters,” said Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat’s CEO. “Our high level of execution and commitment to investing across our technology stack, including enabling open, hybrid cloud computing in the enterprise, has led to Red Hat being recognized once again by Forbes, Inc. on its list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies.”
While operating cash flow dipped to $108 million from $119 million a year ago, the Raleigh-based company’s deferred revenue balance grew 18 percent to $1.25 billion.
“We experienced strong growth across our routes to market during the second quarter,” said Chief Financial Officer Charlie Peters. “The fastest growing part of our channel business comes from the 80+ Red Hat certified public cloud providers that provide our technologies on-demand in their clouds. The rapid revenue growth from these public cloud partners, which we recognize immediately and contains no deferred revenue, helped us to meaningfully exceed our second quarter revenue guidance.”
Red Hat shares closed at $60.66 Thursday, down 42 cents, but close to its 52-week high of $62.69. Its low is $41.89.
