- Rackspace (NYSE:RAX) uses its Q2 report to announce the company's buyback authorization has been hiked to $1B; a $500M buyback was launched last November, of which $200M has been used. At least $500M worth of shares will be repurchased in 6-9 months.
- The program will be financed with a mixture of existing cash, future cash flows, and debt. Rackspace now plans to have a debt level equal to 1.5x annual EBITDA, and expects to achieve it in the next 24 months.
- Guidance: Q3 guidance is for revenue to rise 2%-3.5% Q/Q on a constant currency basis; consensus is for revenue to rise 4% Q/Q in dollars to $511.1M. Q4 guidance is also for 2%-3.5% Q/Q constant currency growth, and full-year guidance is for 12%-14% Y/Y constant currency growth; the 2015 revenue growth consensus (in dollars) is at 12.2%. Adjusted EBITDA margin guidance for all 3 periods is 33%-34% (compares with Q2's 33.1%, +100 bps Y/Y).
- As previously indicated, Rackspace is no longer breaking out its dedicated cloud (Web hosting) and public cloud (IaaS) revenue. Average revenue/server rose by $4 Q/Q and $41 Y/Y to $1,416. Servers deployed rose 2% Q/Q and 8% Y/Y to 116,329.
- Cost controls helped EPS meet estimates in spite of a revenue miss: GAAP costs/expenses rose 7% Y/Y to $435.8M, less than revenue growth of 11%. Ahead of the new capital structure policy, Rackspace ended Q2 with $317M in cash, and just $7M in debt.
- Shares have risen to $33.11 in AH trading.
- Q2 results, PR