Why Fusion-io Fell Hard

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of storage drive maker Fusion-io plummeted 22% today after its quarterly results and outlook missed Wall Street expectations.

So what: The stock has plunged over the past year on sluggish demand, and today's fourth-quarter results -- loss widened to $23.8 million as revenue slipped to $106.05 million -- coupled with downbeat guidance only reinforce that trend. In fact, Fusion-io posted a negative operating margin of 22.4% in the quarter on a 51% spike in marketing costs, suggesting the competitive environment is only getting more intense.

Management now sees full-year revenue growth of 20%, implying sales of about $519 million versus Wall Street's view of $564 million. "To continue to maintain our market leadership, we will increase our focus on our go-to-market strategy, product portfolio and our partnerships as we help customers around the world unlock the business value in real-time information intelligence," said CEO Shane Robison. Of course, given the strong competitive headwinds facing Fusion-io at this point, I'd wait for even more of a pullback before buying into that bullishness.

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The article Why Fusion-io Fell Hard originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Brian Pacampara has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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