Earnings

Box loses $1.65 per share, adjusted, vs. expected loss of $1.17 per share

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Box reported quarterly earnings that missed analysts' expectations on Wednesday, sending the stock down as much as 17 percent in after-hours trading.

The company reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $1.65 per share, broadly missing estimates for a loss of $1.17 per share.

However, Box CEO Aaron Levie disputed the consensus estimate during a call with investors and said it was based on an incorrect share count. He says the forecasts should have actually called for a quarterly loss of $1.99 a share.

On a brighter note, the cloud storage provider easily beat revenue estimates as billings for the quarter rose more than 30 percent.

Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie speaks during the BoxWorks "How Tomorrow Works" event in San Francisco on Sept. 3, 2014.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Box said fourth-quarter revenue rose to $63 million, up 61 percent from a year ago and topping estimates of $58 million.

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Billings totaled $82 million, an increase of 33 percent from a year ago.

"The opportunity to transform how people work has never been greater, with organizations demanding technology that helps employees be more mobile and collaborative, while keeping information secure," Levie said in a statement.

Analysts expected Box to post a quarterly loss of $1.17 per share on $58 million in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Looking forward, Box expects fiscal first-quarter revenue to range between $63 million and $64 million, versus current expectations for $62 million.

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Michael Yoshikami, CEO and founder of Destination Wealth Management, says the company is working to get into major institutions, but it may face headwinds from competitors who are looking to undercut its storage prices.

Google just launched its new cold storage offering and it plans to offer it for a penny per gigabyte "how is Box going to compete with that price," Yoshikami said Wednesday on CNBC's closing bell.

The stock was down about 11 percent in extended trading at around $18 a share.

Wednesday marked the cloud computing company's first earnings report since it went public in late January. As of Wednesday's close, the stock traded nearly 45 percent higher than its IPO price.

The company announced last week that it would acquire Subspace, a workplace computing start-up. Late last month, it launched a cloud platform tailored to financial services companies.

Box has more than 45,000 customers worldwide, including large firms such as Astra Zeneca, Eli Lily, General Electric, The Gap, Safeway, Ebay, Boston Scientific, Nationwide, Toyota, and Warner Music Group.

CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.