Sumo Logic’s First Earnings Report Beat Expectations. Why Its Stock Is Sliding.

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Sumo Logic

traded sharply lower Monday after the real-time analytics company posted what appear to be better-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 31, the company’s first earnings report since it came public in September.

Oddly, Sumo (ticker: SUMO) issued the numbers in the middle of the trading day, a few minutes before noon Eastern time, something almost no company does intentionally. Earnings are generally issued before the market opens in the morning or after trading closes in the afternoon. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the timing of the release.

For the quarter, Sumo posted revenue of $51.9 million, up 28% year over year, and ahead of the Street consensus at $49.1 million. Sumo reported a non-GAAP loss of 6 cents a share, narrower than the Street consensus forecast for a loss of 24 cents a share.

For the January quarter, Sumo projects revenue of $51.8 million to $52.3 million, with a non-GAAP loss of 12 to 13 cents per share; previous consensus was $50.8 million and a loss of 15 cents. Sumo sees full year revenue of $200.3 million to $200.8 million, with a non-GAAP loss of 78 to 79 cents a share.

“We delivered strong results in our first quarter as a public company as customers continue to choose Sumo Logic’s Continuous Intelligence Platform to transform the tsunami of data generated from digital transformation into actionable insights,” CEO Ramin Sayar said in a statement.

BTIG analyst Gray Powell writes in a research note that the results were better expected, and that “other than the odd timing of the release,” he’s yet to find any negative metrics in the report relative to expectations.

Sumo closed down 18.1% to $24.49. Sumo went public on Sept. 17 at $22 a share.

Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com