NTAP NetApp Inc

   By Maria Armental 
 

NetApp Inc. swung to a quarterly profit, boosted by cost-cutting that helped offset a 3% revenue decline.

Shares, up 9% this year, rose 6% in after-hours trading to $30.47.

The Silicon Valley data storage company, which has reported lower profit for the past two years and falling sales for three years running, is trying to revamp operations as part of the latest restructuring that targets some $400 million in cost-savings.

In the latest period, it reported $704 million in operating expenses, a 16% decline from the year-ago period, which included $27 million in restructuring charges.

Over all, NetApp reported a first-quarter profit of $64 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with a loss of $30 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, profit rose to 46 cents a share from 29 cents a share.

The most recent results are based on 7% fewer shares outstanding.

Net revenue fell to $1.29 billion from $1.34 billion as product revenue, which accounts for the bulk of its business, declined 0.6%.

NetApp, which cut operating expenses by 16%, had projected 34 cents to 39 cents a share in adjusted profit on $1.20 billion to $1.35 billion in revenue.

Gross profit margin improved to 61.6% from 61.1% a year earlier.

For the current quarter, it expects to make 51 cents to 56 cents a share in adjusted profit on $1.27 billion to $1.42 billion in revenue, compared with analysts' projected 54 cents a share on $1.33 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

NetApp ended the year with $5.3 billion in cash, the bulk of it abroad, and $2.34 billion in debt.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 17, 2016 17:00 ET (21:00 GMT)

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