May 24, 2018 – NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2018, ended April 27, 2018.

“The fourth quarter marked a great finish to a strong year. We successfully pivoted to the growth areas of the market, expanded our opportunity with HCI and new cloud partnerships, and improved operational discipline to deliver sustained and profitable growth,” said George Kurian, chief executive officer. “Clear innovation leadership, coupled with strong go-to-market execution, has enabled us to gain share in all key product categories and in every geography. Our momentum with customers continues to accelerate and we are increasingly viewed as a critical strategic partner for data-driven digital transformations.”

Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2018 Financial Results

Net Revenues: $1.64 billion, increased 11% year-over-year from $1.48 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017
Net Income: GAAP net income of $271 million, compared to GAAP net income of $190 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017; non-GAAP net income1 of $288 million, compared to non-GAAP net income of $239 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017
Earnings per Share: GAAP earnings per share2 of $0.99 compared to GAAP earnings per share of $0.68 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017; non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.05, compared to non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.86 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Investments: $5.4 billion at the end of fiscal 2018
Cash from Operations: $494 million, compared to $365 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017
Share Repurchase and Dividend: Returned $397 million to shareholders through share repurchases and a cash dividend
Fiscal Year 2018 Financial Results

Net Revenues: $5.91 billion, increased 7% year-over-year from $5.52 billion in fiscal 2017
Net Income: GAAP net income of $76 million*, compared to GAAP net income of $509 million in fiscal 2017; non-GAAP net income of $957 million, compared to non-GAAP net income of $768 million in fiscal 2017
Earnings per Share: GAAP earnings per share of $0.28*, compared to GAAP earnings per share of $1.81 in fiscal 2017; non-GAAP earnings per share of $3.47, compared to non-GAAP earnings per share of $2.73 in fiscal 2017
Cash from Operations: $1.48 billion, compared to $986 million in fiscal year 2017
Share Repurchase and Dividend: Returned $1.01 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and cash dividends
*On December 22, 2017, The 2017 Tax Reform Reconciliation Act was enacted into law. This tax reform legislation contains several key tax provisions that affected the company, including a one-time mandatory transition tax on accumulated foreign earnings and a reduction of the U.S. corporate income tax rate to 21% effective January 1, 2018, among others. GAAP net income in fiscal year 2018 was impacted by a resulting one-time charge of approximately $850 million.

First Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Financial Outlook

The Company provided the following financial guidance for the first quarter of fiscal year 2019:

Net revenues are expected to be in the range of $1.365 billion to $1.465 billion

GAAP

Non-GAAP

Earnings per share is expected to be in the range of:
$0.53-$0.59

$0.76-$0.82

Full Fiscal Year 2019 Financial Outlook
The Company provided the following financial guidance for the full fiscal year 2019:

Net revenues are expected to grow in the mid-single digits

GAAP

Non-GAAP

Consolidated gross margins are expected to be:
~62%

~63%

Operating margins are expected to be in the range of:
18%-19%

20%-21%

Effective tax rate is expected to be:
~22%

~18%

Dividend

In the first quarter of fiscal year 2019, the Company will double its quarterly dividend to $0.40 per share. The quarterly dividend will be paid on July 25, 2018 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 6, 2018.
Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2018 Business Highlights

Ducati partners with NetApp to drive digital transformation of motorcycle racing in the MotoGP World Championship, counting on the NetApp™ Data Fabric as it participates in 19 races in 15 countries on 5 continents around the globe. Ducati will use NetApp technologies to modernize its IT and data protection infrastructure, enhancing data protection and security.
NetApp helps customers build General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)–compliant processes. NetApp helps customers integrate NetApp and partner technologies to enable them to identify where personal information is held, improve their data management and governance processes, and build GDPR-compliant processes into their day-to-day activities.
NetApp is one of the few data management companies with a dedicated healthcare solutions team and is uniquely positioned to assist healthcare organizations providing secure access to critical information, so customers can quickly accelerate workloads and analytics and can integrate cloud data services with industry-leading simplicity and efficiency.
Webcast and Conference Call Information

NetApp will host a conference call to discuss these results today at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time. To access the live webcast of this event, visit the NetApp Investor Relations website at investors.netapp.com. In addition, this press release, historical supplemental data tables, and other information related to the call will be posted on the Investor Relations website. An audio replay will also be available on the website after 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time today.

“Safe Harbor” Statement Under U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, all of the statements made under the First Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Financial Outlook and the Full Fiscal Year 2019 Financial Outlook sections, statements about our ability to deliver sustained and profitable growth, and statements about the acceleration of our momentum with customers. All of these forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty. Actual results may differ materially from these statements for a variety of reasons, including, without limitation, general global political, macroeconomic and market conditions, changes in U.S. government spending, revenue seasonality and matters specific to our business, such as our ability to expand our total available market and grow our portfolio of products, customer demand for and acceptance of our products and services, our ability to successfully execute new business models, our ability to successfully execute on our Data Fabric strategy to generate profitable growth and stockholder return and our ability to manage our gross profit margins. These and other equally important factors are described in reports and documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the factors described under the section titled “Risk Factors” in our most recently submitted reports on Form 10-Q and 10-K. We disclaim any obligation to update information contained in this press release whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

[1]Non-GAAP net income excludes, when applicable, (a) amortization of intangible assets, (b) stock-based compensation expenses, (c) litigation settlements, (d) acquisition-related expenses, (e) restructuring charges, (f) asset impairments, (g) gains/losses on the sale of properties, and (h) our GAAP tax provision, but includes a non-GAAP tax provision based upon our projected annual non-GAAP effective tax rate for the first three quarters of the fiscal year and an actual non-GAAP tax provision for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. NetApp makes additional adjustments to the non-GAAP tax provision for certain tax matters as described below. A detailed reconciliation of our non-GAAP to GAAP results can be found at investors.netapp.com. NetApp’s management uses these non-GAAP measures in making operating decisions because it believes the measurements provide meaningful supplemental information regarding NetApp’s ongoing operational performance. 
[2]GAAP earnings per share and non-GAAP earnings per share are calculated using the diluted number of shares.

NetApp Usage of Non-GAAP Financial Information

To supplement NetApp’s condensed consolidated financial statement information presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP), NetApp provides investors with certain non-GAAP measures, including, but not limited to, historical non-GAAP operating results, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP effective tax rate and free cash flow, and historical and projected non-GAAP earnings per diluted share.

NetApp believes that the presentation of non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP effective tax rates, and non-GAAP earnings per share data when shown in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures, provides useful information to investors and management regarding financial and business trends relating to its financial condition and results of operations. NetApp believes that the presentation of free cash flow, which it defines as the net cash provided by operating activities less cash used to acquire property and equipment, to be a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors because it reflects cash that can be used to, among other things, invest in its business, make strategic acquisitions, repurchase common stock, and pay dividends on its common stock. As free cash flow is not a measure of liquidity calculated in accordance with GAAP, free cash flow should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the analysis provided in the statement of cash flows.

NetApp’s management uses these non-GAAP measures in making operating decisions because it believes the measurements provide meaningful supplemental information regarding NetApp’s ongoing operational performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are used to: (1) measure company performance against historical results, (2) facilitate comparisons to our competitors’ operating results and (3) allow greater transparency with respect to information used by management in financial and operational decision making. 

NetApp excludes the following items from its non-GAAP measures when applicable:

A. Amortization of intangible assets. NetApp records amortization of intangible assets that were acquired in connection with its business combinations. The amortization of intangible assets varies depending on the level of acquisition activity. Management finds it useful to exclude these charges to assess the appropriate level of various operating expenses to assist in budgeting, planning and forecasting future periods and in measuring operational performance.

B. Stock-based compensation expenses. NetApp excludes stock-based compensation expenses from its non-GAAP measures primarily because they are non-cash expenses. While management views stock-based compensation as a key element of our employee retention and long-term incentives, we do not view it as an expense to be used in evaluating operational performance in any given period.

C. Litigation settlements. NetApp may periodically incur charges or benefits related to litigation settlements. NetApp excludes these charges and benefits, when significant, because it does not believe they are reflective of ongoing business and operating results.

D. Acquisition-related expenses. NetApp excludes acquisition-related expenses, including (a) due diligence, legal and other one-time integration charges and (b) write down of assets acquired that NetApp does not intend to use in its ongoing business, from its non-GAAP measures, primarily because they are not related to our ongoing business or cost base and, therefore, cannot be relied upon for future planning and forecasting.

E. Restructuring charges. These charges consist of restructuring charges that are incurred based on the particular facts and circumstances of restructuring decisions, including employment and contractual settlement terms, and other related charges, and can vary in size and frequency. We therefore exclude them in our assessment of operational performance.

F. Asset impairments. These are non-cash charges to write down assets when there is an indication that the asset has become impaired. Management finds it useful to exclude these non-cash charges due to the unpredictability of these events in its assessment of operational performance.

G. Gains/losses on the sale of properties. These are gains/losses from the sale of our properties. Management believes that these transactions do not reflect the results of our underlying, on-going business and, therefore, cannot be relied upon for future planning or forecasting.

H. Income tax adjustments. NetApp’s non-GAAP tax provision is based upon a projected annual non-GAAP effective tax rate for the first three quarters of the fiscal year and an actual non-GAAP tax provision for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. The non-GAAP tax provision also excludes, when applicable, (a) tax charges or benefits in the current period that relate to one or more prior fiscal periods that are a result of events such as changes in tax legislation, authoritative guidance, income tax audit settlements and/or court decisions, (b) tax charges or benefits that are attributable to unusual or non-recurring book and/or tax accounting method changes, (c) tax charges that are a result of a non-routine foreign cash repatriation, (d) tax charges or benefits that are a result of infrequent restructuring of the Company’s tax structure, (e) tax charges or benefits that are a result of a change in valuation allowance, and (f) tax charges resulting from the integration of intellectual properties from acquisitions. Management believes that the use of non-GAAP tax provisions provides a more meaningful measure of the Company’s operational performance.

These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative for, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. NetApp believes that non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with the Company’s results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP and that these measures should only be used to evaluate the Company’s results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures. NetApp management compensates for these limitations by analyzing current and projected results on a GAAP basis as well as a non-GAAP basis. The presentation of non-GAAP financial information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The non-GAAP financial measures are meant to supplement, and be viewed in conjunction with, GAAP financial measures.