Nimble Storage Delivers a Successful IPO

According to an IDC report, worldwide spending on data storage platforms is expected to grow to $42.5 billion by 2017 as more organizations feel the need for cost-effective data storage options. Further, as enterprises shift to virtualization and the Cloud, there is a bigger amount of data that is being generated that cannot be stored efficiently on traditional storage systems. As a result, there is a bigger need for next generation high-performance flash storage media with cloud-based monitoring capabilities and predictive data analytics software.

Nimble Storage’s Offerings
Recently listed San Jose, California-based Nimble Storage (NYSE: NMBL) caters to this market opportunity. Nimble Storage focuses on providing efficient flash optimized data storage capabilities to medium sized organizations. IDC estimates that the global demand for worldwide market for storage systems with a cost greater than $15,000 will grow from $23.5 billion in 2013 to $28.0 billion in 2017. Nimble is targeting this market opportunity. Additionally, Nimble also provides software solutions for Core Storage Management, Data Replication, and Device Resource Management – a market estimated by Gartner to be worth $6.3 billion in 2013 and projected to grow to $7.9 billion in 2017.

Nimble’s software and storage systems help effectively handle applications, including virtual desktops, databases, email, collaboration, and analytics tools to over 2,645 customers, serving industries ranging from cloud-based service providers to education and financial services providers.

Their recent product release includes the Nimble Storage SmartStack converged infrastructure solution that helps provide an efficient storage performance for desktop and server virtualization workloads in a single converged infrastructure stack.

Nimble Storage’s Financials
Nimble has seen a rapid growth in revenues since they began shipping their products in 2010. Revenues have grown from $1.7 million for the year ended January 2011 to $53.8 million for the year ended January 2013. Losses have also widened during the period from $6.8 million in 2011 to $27.9 million in 2013.

Nimble recently announced their fourth quarter results and saw revenues grow 107% to $41.7 million, surpassing market expectations of $38.1 million. Losses fell from $0.16 per share a year ago to $0.14 per share, and were in line with market estimates.

Revenues for the year grew 134% to $125.7 million while losses increased from $0.46 per share a year ago to $0.56 per share.

For the current quarter, Nimble projected a loss of $0.16-$0.17 per share compared with the market’s projections of a loss of $0.15 per share for the quarter. Nimble needs to continue to invest in sales and R&D efforts as their competitors in the space include big players like EMC and NetApp.

Till recently, Nimble was venture funded with $98 million raised from Accel Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, ARTIS Ventures, and GGV Capital. Last December, they went public and raised $176.7 million by listing on the NYSE under the ticker NMBL. They sold 8 million shares at a price of $21.00 per share. Their stock is trading at $43.78 with a market capitalization of $1.98 billion. It touched a high of $58.00 in February this year.