Red Hat Shares Slide as Q3 Guidance Disappoints

Red Hat (RHT) shares are trading lower in an otherwise upbeat session for tech stocks, after the company last night provided lower-than-expected guidance for its fiscal third quarter ending November.

On its post-earnings conference call, the company said it expects revenue for the quarter of $169 million to $171 million, and non-GAAP profits of 16-17 cents a share. The Street has been looking for $172.4 million and 18 cents.

Asked on the call whether Red Hat is still backing its previous full year guidance, CFO Charlie Peters appeared to back away from the company’s most recent forecast. “We are basically taking, I’d say, each quarter at a time” due to “volatile” interest rates and exchange rates, he said.

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