MicroStrategy Cuts Costs, Boosts Profits and Cash Flow in Q2

Dashboards helps MicroStrategy users better understand key business data. Credit: MicroStrategy.

Shares of MicroStrategy were up 6.6% as of 4:40 p.m. ET Monday, as investors digested the impact of the company's better-than-expected second-quarter results. Here's a closer look at the Q2 totals versus Wall Street's projections:

MSTR	Revenue	YOY Growth	EPS	YOY Growth
Consensus estimate	$127.99 million	(9.8%)Math=((127.99/141.85)-1)*100	$1.51	265.9%Math=((1.51/-.91)-1)*100
Q2 actual	$132.94 million	(6.3%)Math=((132.94/141.85)-1)*100	$1.95	314.3%Math=((1.95/-.91)-1)*100
DIFFERENCE	$4.95 million	3.5%	$0.44	48.4%

Sources: S&P Capital IQand MicroStrategy press release.

CEO Michael Saylor didn't comment on the results in the press release, choosing instead to highlight MicroStrategy's hiring of former XO Communicationsexecutive Phong Le as the company's new chief financial officer:

What went right:Cost controls led to huge gains in cash flow. Cost of revenue plummeted 27.2%, leading gross margin to expand from 74.9% in last year's Q2 to 80.5% over the past three months. Similarly, cash flow from operations is up to $92 million for the first six months of 2015, versus just $14.4 million over the same period last year.

What went wrong:Deferred revenue didn't impress nearly as much as some investors might have liked. "Current" deferred revenue and advance payments -- i.e., income due to be recognized within the fiscal year -- fell 9.5% year over year. Deferreds related to new product license sales and product support also fell. I'd expect better numbers given the marketing push for the company's MicroStrategy 10 business intelligence and analytics platform.

What's next:MicroStrategy didn't include third-quarter guidance in its press release. Nevertheless, analysts tracked by S&P Capital IQ have the company generating $139.86 million in revenue and $1.88 a share in profit. That compares with $151.2 million and $0.36 a share in last year's Q3.

Longer term, analysts have MicroStrategy growing earnings by an average of 9.5%annuallyover the next three to five years.

In the meantime, investors should pay close attention to how well new CFO Le balances the need to keep costs low while investing enough to build a global user base for MicroStrategy 10. Maintaining or even expanding gross margin while producing growth in product-related deferred revenue would be a good indicator.

The article MicroStrategy Cuts Costs, Boosts Profits and Cash Flow in Q2 originally appeared on Fool.com.

Tim Beyersprefers the macro view when talking strategy. He's also a member of theMotley Fool Rule Breakers stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission and owned shares of Apple at the time of publication. Check out Tim's Web homeandportfolio holdings, or connect with him onGoogle+,Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by@milehighfool.The Motley Fool recommends Apple and MicroStrategy. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.