NetApp Needs to Show Some Enterprise

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The past six months have not been too kind for enterprise storage giant NetApp (NTAP).

Since reaching a high of $46.80 on April 3, the stock has plummeted as much as 40%. Remarkably, this comes on the heels of the company reporting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and offering an outlook in line with Wall Street expectations. So what's the problem?

It seems aside from the stiff competition from other storage rivals including EMC (EMC), IBM (IBM) and, to some extent, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), investors have also become fearful of NetApp's growth prospects, which are heavily predicated on the overall health of enterprise and government storage spending.

With such a prolonged weakness in that market, and with NetApp's recent share decline, are investors justified for having turned their backs on the stock? While the stock might now seem discounted by the sector's standards, can NetApp prove its value to investors?

For its fiscal 2013 first quarter, NetApp reported net income of $64 million, or 17 cents per share, on revenue of $1.445 billion, in line with its previously stated guidance. On a non-GAAP basis, EPS arrived at $156 million, or 42 cents per share. The company beat Street expectations on earnings while meeting analysts' revenue forecasts.

While the company's report was far from horrible, it did leave some investors wondering if can it overcome weakness in storage spending.

Revenue actually declined by 1% from the previous year and 15% from the fourth quarter. This fact did not escape investors waiting for the sort of returns expected by a dominant cloud player. Margins were not any better. Though it improved from the fourth quarter, it gave up close to three points from the same period of a year ago.

Guidance for the second quarter was somewhat mixed. NetApp expects EPS to arrive at approximately 45 cents to 50 cents per share on revenue of $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion. Revenue projections would represent growth of 7% from the first quarter and roughly 3% annually. With low-single-digit growth projections, the company is guiding cautiously -- understandably so. But investors have grown impatient.

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