Shares of Aliso Viejo’s Quest Software Inc., a maker of business software, slumped on Wednesday after the company reported first-quarter results that missed Wall Street’s expectations.
Investors sent shares down more than 7% in afterhours trading on a recent market value of $1.6 billion.
For the three months through March, Quest saw sales of $171 million, up 3% from a year earlier but just short of analysts’ expected $172 million in revenue.
Excluding charges for acquisitions, stock compensation, write-downs on assets and other one-time costs, the company posted $24 million in profits, up 18% but missing analysts’ estimate of $27 million in profits.
Quest ended the quarter with $426 million in cash and short-term assets.
Quest didn’t give financial guidance for the current quarter in its earnings release.
For the current quarter, analysts are expecting adjusted profits of $26 million on sales of $170 million.
Quest makes software that manages and improves upon other business applications by Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and others.
