Supercomputer-maker Cray Inc. today reported diminished revenue and a big though anticipated loss for the quarter ended June 30. CEO Peter Ungaro declared in a statement that “I do not believe our leadership position has changed.”
Revenue was $100.2 million, compared with $186.2 million in second-quarter 2015. Net loss was $13.1 million, or 33 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $5.8 million, or 14 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago period.
“There has been an overall slowdown in the supercomputing market, especially at the high end,” Ungaro said in a call after the earnings were released. He said Cray doesn’t view the slowdown as a long-term trend.
For full-year 2016, Cray said it now expects revenue to be in the range of $650 million. In its first-quarter earnings release, it put that figure at $825 million. It does expect to be profitable for the year, said CFO Brian Henry during the call. Henry attributed the decline to a recent fire in a Wisconsin manufacturing plant that damaged five systems nearly ready for delivery, to decreases in the level and timing of new orders and to delays in the delivery of key components from suppliers.
Ungaro said Cray will be looking for more relationships like the security-oriented partnership with consultancy Deloitte announced last month. “This is an example, and hopefully one of many over time, of being able to go to market with our supercomputers in very different ways,” he said.
Most the computing moving to the cloud is at “the lower end of the market,” he said. Cloud computing hasn’t “eroded the market” at the high end of supercomputing, where Cray plays, because “the unique capability that high-end supercomputers provide is not easily replicated in the cloud today.”
