Red Hat has today announced financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year ended February 28, 2017.
“We closed the year with an exceptional performance. The fourth quarter marked our 60th consecutive quarter of revenue growth, and we crossed the $2 billion milestone in subscription revenue and total deferred revenue for the fiscal year,” stated Jim Whitehurst. “As customers embrace digital transformation, they are turning to Red Hat as a strategic partner to deliver solutions that can help them realize the benefits of these initiatives. Enterprises and service providers are increasingly adopting hybrid cloud infrastructures and open source technologies, which is fueling our growth and positioning Red Hat for the long-term.”
“Our strategic position with customers is evidenced by the continued growth in large commitments to Red Hat. The number of deals greater than $1 million in fiscal 2017 grew by over 30% annually, and we closed a record number of deals over $20 million, including our first-ever deal of approximately $100 million in the fourth quarter,” stated Eric Shander, acting Chief Financial Officer of Red Hat. “This performance also drove a record backlog of $2.7 billion in U.S. dollars, up 28% year-over-year which contributes to our fiscal year 2018 revenue outlook of 13% to 14% growth and should help drive expanded GAAP operating margin of 15.2% and non-GAAP operating margin of 23.6%.”
Total revenue for the quarter was $629 million, up 16% year-over-year both in U.S. dollars and measured in constant currency. Constant currency references in this release are detailed in the tables below. Subscription revenue for the quarter was $560 million, up 17% year-over-year both in U.S. dollars and measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue in the quarter was 89% of total revenue.
Full fiscal year 2017 total revenue was $2.4 billion, up 18% in U.S. dollars year-over-year, or 17% measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue for the full fiscal year was $2.1 billion, up 18% year-over-year both in U.S. dollars and measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue in the full fiscal year was 89% of total revenue.
Subscription revenue from Infrastructure-related offerings for the quarter was $435 million, an increase of 11% in U.S. dollars year-over-year and 12% measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue from Application development-related and other emerging technologies offerings for the quarter was $125 million, an increase of 40% year-over-year both in U.S. dollars and measured in constant currency.
Full fiscal year subscription revenue from Infrastructure-related offerings was $1.7 billion, an increase of 15% in U.S. dollars year-over-year and 14% measured in constant currency. Full fiscal year subscription revenue from Application Development-related and other emerging technologies offerings was $439 million, an increase of 36% year-over-year both in U.S. dollars and measured in constant currency.
GAAP operating income for the quarter was $94 million, up 31% year-over-year. After adjusting for non-cash share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, and transaction costs related to business combinations, non-GAAP operating income for the fourth quarter was $153 million, up 23% year-over-year. Non-GAAP references in this release are detailed in the tables below. For the fourth quarter, GAAP operating margin was 15.0% and non-GAAP operating margin was 24.3%.
Full fiscal year GAAP operating income was $332 million, up 15% year-over-year. After adjusting for non-cash share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, and transaction costs related to business combinations, non-GAAP operating income for the full fiscal year was $556 million, up 15% year-over-year. Full fiscal year GAAP operating margin was 13.8% and non-GAAP operating margin was 23.1%.
GAAP net income for the quarter was $66 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, compared with $53 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. During the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017, GAAP net income and earnings per diluted share benefited by approximately $1 million from the adoption of Accounting Standards Update 2016-09 (“ASU 2016-09”) in the first fiscal quarter of 2017.
After adjusting for non-cash share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, transaction costs related to business combinations, and non-cash interest expense related to the debt discount, non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $110 million, or $0.61 per diluted share, as compared to $97 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP diluted weighted average shares outstanding excludes any dilution resulting from the convertible notes because any potential dilution is expected to be offset by our convertible note hedge transactions.
Full fiscal year GAAP net income was $254 million, or $1.39 per diluted share, compared with $199 million, or $1.07 per diluted share, in the prior fiscal year. After adjusting for non-cash share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, transaction costs related to business combinations, and non-cash interest expense related to the debt discount, non-GAAP net income for the full fiscal year was $414 million, or $2.27 per diluted share, as compared to $355 million, or $1.91 per diluted share, in the prior fiscal year.
Operating cash flow was $318 million for the fourth quarter, an increase of 27% on a year-over-year basis. Full fiscal year operating cash flow was $784 million. Total cash, cash equivalents and investments as of February 28, 2017 was $2.1 billion after repurchasing approximately $139 million, or approximately 1.9 million shares, of common stock in the fourth quarter. The remaining balance in the current repurchase authorization as of February 28, 2017 was approximately $636 million.
Total backlog for fiscal year 2017 was in excess of $2.7 billion, up 28% year-over-year. We define total backlog as the value of non-cancellable subscription and service agreements, including total deferred revenue, which is billed, plus the value of non-cancellable subscription and service agreements to be billed in the future not reflected in our financial statements. At the end of the fiscal year, the company’s total deferred revenue balance was $2.1 billion, an increase of 20% year-over-year. The full year negative impact to total deferred revenue from changes in foreign exchange rates was approximately $1 million year-over-year. On a constant currency basis, total deferred revenue would have been up 20% year-over-year.
The portion of total backlog to be billed in the future not reflected in our financial statements was in excess of $650 million as of February 28, 2017, compared with the ending balance in excess of $410 million reported for fiscal year 2016. The portion of total backlog to be billed during fiscal year 2018 was in excess of $330 million as of February 28, 2017, compared with in excess of $275 million for the fiscal year ended February 29, 2016.
Red Hat’s outlook assumes current business condition and current foreign currency exchange rates.
For the full year:
- Revenue is expected to be $2.720 billion to $2.760 billion in U.S. dollars.
- GAAP operating margin is expected to be approximately 15.2% and non-GAAP operating margin is expected to be approximately 23.6%.
- Fully diluted GAAP earnings per share (EPS) is expected to be approximately $1.69 to $1.73 per share, assuming 181 million fully diluted shares outstanding. Fully diluted non-GAAP EPS is expected to be approximately $2.60 to $2.64 per share, assuming 180 million fully diluted shares outstanding. Both GAAP and non-GAAP EPS assume a $2 million per quarter forecast for other income and an estimated annual effective tax rate of 28% before discrete tax items.
- Operating cash flow is expected to be approximately $850 million to $870 million.
