Fastly Inc. shares fell in after-hours trading Wednesday following the cloud-software company’s posting of a wider-than-expected loss for the quarter, and an announcement that the company was looking for a new chief executive for its next phase of growth.
Fastly
FSLY,
shares fell more than 6% after hours, following a 1% rise to close the regular session at $16.86. Fastly shares are higher than the $16 price commanded in the company’s 2019 initial public offering, but well off the heights that followed its public debut. Over the past 12 months, shares are down 72%.
The company reported a first-quarter loss $64.3 million, or 54 cents a share, compared with a loss of $50.7 million, or 44 cents a share, in the year-ago period. After adjusting for stock compensation and other costs, the company reported a loss of 15 cents a share, compared with a loss of 9 cents a share a year ago.
The company said revenue rose to a record $102.4 million from $84.9 million in the year-ago period.
Analysts on average expected an adjusted loss of 14 cents a share on sales of $99 million.
“We are pleased to kick off 2022 with strong revenue growth that exceeded guidance and a record-breaking quarter for Fastly as we passed the $100M milestone for the first time,” said Chief Executive Joshua Bixby, who is expected to step down once his successor is appointed. Fastly said it is looking for a new CEO “to lead the company through its next phase of growth.”
For the second quarter, the company expects an adjusted loss of 18 cents to 15 cents a share on revenue of $99 million to $102 million, while analysts expect a loss of 15 cents a share and revenue of $99.5 million.
Fastly held to its bottom-line forecast for the year of an adjusted loss of 50 cents to 60 cents, but raised the range of its forecast revenue to between $405 million and $415 million. Analysts expect a loss of 56 cents a share on revenue of $407.3 million.
Last quarter, shares took a nosedive after the company forecast slower-than-expected growth. Fastly stock has made a habit of large declines after earnings. The stock declined after quarterly earnings for five straight quarters — with four of those declines by double-digit percentages — until the company broke that streak in November with its quarterly report, and shares rose 2% the next day.
