THE SPARK: Aruba, which makes equipment for wireless network providers, said it posted a loss of $11.4 million, or 11 cents per share, for the quarter ended Jan. 31, compared with a loss of $2.8 million, or 3 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.
Excluding stock-option and other one-time items, the Sunnyvale, Calif. company said it posted an adjusted profit of $19.4 million, or 16 cents per share, for the recent quarter.
Revenue rose 35 percent to $126.3 million from $93.9 million.
THE BIG PICTURE: The profit topped the average of analysts' estimates by a penny. A FactSet poll showed they expected a profit of 15 cents per share on $125.2 million in revenue.
In its conference call with investors, Aruba officials said they were pleased with the quarter's results. They pointed to the steep jump in revenue and noted that the company added 1,500 new customers during the period.
THE ANALYSIS: Jefferies analyst George Notter kept his "Hold" rating on Aruba shares and said the second-quarter results represented "business as usual" at the company. Notter raised his price target Aruba by $1 to $22. He said the company continues to perform well, but its shares have reached their fair value.
JMP Securities analyst Erik Suppiger backed his "Market Outperform" rating and $30 price target for the company.
"We believe Aruba Networks is well positioned to capitalize on the broad adoption of mobile data devices in the enterprise and margins continue to expand," Suppiger wrote in a note to investors.
THE SHARES: Down $2.64, or 10.7 percent, to $22.01, in afternoon trading. They dropped as low as $21.88 earlier in the day.
Over the past 52 weeks, the company's shares have traded between $16.20 and $36.40. Aruba shares are up about 19 percent since the start of the year.
