With Stock Tanking, Box Founder Responds to Complaints Box's stock price is the victim of confused analysts, Aaron Levie says.

By Everett Rosenfeld

This story originally appeared on CNBC

Box.com

Box's stock price is the victim of confused analysts, CEO Aaron Levie said.

He said Thursday on CNBC's "Closing Bell" that he did not want to overemphasize results' relation to Wall Street expectations, but he did want to set the record straight about his company.
"On every metric in the last quarter—on revenue, on operating income, on billings—we beat the estimates from analysts," Levie said. "So we think we had a great quarter."

Shares in the cloud storage company tanked Thursday—down about 15 percent just before Levie spoke with CNBC, but paring those declines by the market close—after it reported fiscal fourth-quarter results after the bell Wednesday.

Box posted a loss of $1.65 per share, which initially appeared to be a major miss because some consensus estimates called for a loss of about $1.17 per share.

Levie told CNBC Wednesday night, however, that that consensus figure was wrong because some analysts had based their expectations on an incorrect share count. In fact, he said, the actual consensus was for a loss of $1.99—meaning Box topped what Wall Street projected.

Responding to one analyst's complaint that he was being too defensive for a company CEO who just had his first earnings release since going public, Levie said he wanted to make sure Box sets "appropriate expectations."

Still, he said "for the most part, we're just focused on execution."

Box's quarterly revenue easily topped Street projections, rising to $63 million, compared with estimates for $58 million.
The company forecast revenue growth of about 30 percent in the current fiscal year, which would mark a slowdown.

As for another analyst's complaint that Box spends too much on advertising, Levie said that ad spending has fallen as a percentage of revenue, but "our job right now is to go capture as much adoption as possible."

—CNBC's Josh Lipton and Karma Allen contributed to this report.

Everett Rosenfeld is a staff writer at CNBC.

 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Money & Finance

How Much Money Do You Need to Retire Comfortably in Your State? Here's the Breakdown.

Regardless of where you spend your golden years, it pays to be realistic about the cost of living.

Money & Finance

Turn Simple Ideas Into Never-Ending Paychecks With This Low-Effort Passive Income Strategy

A micro-hustle lets you build once, sell forever and earn money while you sleep.

Buying / Investing in Business

Former Zillow Execs Target $1.3T Market

Co-ownership is creating big opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

Coinbase CEO Says Company Won't Pay Hackers' Ransom

In a company blog post, Coinbase outlined how it planned to respond to a recent massive breach.

Business News

'It Was Unfair': Warren Buffett Reveals the Real Reason He Stepped Down as CEO

Buffett said he noticed differences between himself and his successor, Greg Abel, 62.