Cash-happy Quantum is poised to enter the HPC market

Better than expected financials prompt new direction

Quantum's confirmed fourth quarter and full fiscal 2015 results were better than the prelim numbers, with full year net income the highest in more than five years, and it's aiming to move into high-performance computing storage.

Q4 revenues were $147.8m (the preliminary figure was $145m) with net income of $12.9m (prelim: $12m). Full year revenues were $553.1m (prelim: $550.3m) and net income of $16.8m was higher than the preliminary amount of $15.8m – and much higher than last financial year's loss of $21.4m.

All very gratifying for CEO Jon Gacek and his team. CFO Linda Breard said: "Our fourth quarter capped off a year that was a key turning point for Quantum, as we generated strong revenue and profit results."

Activist investor Starboard Management seems happy, too, with one of its representatives, Jeffrey Smith, resigning as a board member to be replaced by another, Robert Andersen, with much public back-slapping.

For example, Smith's canned statement said: "Since joining the board in 2013, Quantum's financial results have improved significantly, and its strategy has become increasingly focused on optimising the cash flow from the company's long-standing tape products while further expanding its footprint in the rapidly growing scale-out storage market. As a result, the company is well-positioned to continue to drive profitable core organic revenue growth."

He's a happy punter.

Freed of the dreadful effects of declining tape revenues dominating the scene, Gacek looked ahead and said: "We plan to expand our leadership in media and entertainment and also extend our expertise to other markets such as video surveillance, corporate video and high performance computing applications."

StorNext, the multi-tier file management software, is expected to be the vehicle for these moves.

Quantum expects revenues between $125m to $130m in the current quarter. ®