Why Qlik Technologies Inc. Fell on Friday

Source: Qlik.

What: Shares of Qlik Technologies fell as much as 13.2% in Friday's trading session. The maker of data analysis and visualization tools reported third-quarter results on Thursday night, falling short of Wall Street's revenue estimates and setting up a weak earnings target for the next quarter.

So what: For the third quarter, analysts were expecting adjusted earnings of roughly $0.02 per share on sales of $143 million or so. Qlik hit the earnings consensus on the nose, up from adjusted net income of $0.01 per share in the year-ago quarter. But sales rose just 8% to land at $141.2 million.

Looking ahead, the midpoint of Qlik's fourth-quarter earnings guidance range now sits at $208.5 million. Earnings should stop at approximately $0.38 per share. The sales target is roughly in line with Wall Street's projections, but the earnings guidance weighted a little light.

Now what: In the published press materials, Qlik CEO Lars Bjrk kept a stiff upper lip:

Bjrk's story changed ever so slightly when giving color commentary on Qlik's earnings call. "While we are disappointed to finish at the lower end of our revenue guidance range, our profit performance during the quarter was strong," the CEO said.

Later in the call, he also admitted to worrying about the business impact of struggling economies across Asia, which may be delaying a significant amount of potential Qlik orders. "The deals are there," Bjrk pondered. "It's really just about sort of timing as to when we think we'll be able to close them."

Qlik's most significant rivals hardly moved on this report. Tableau Software saw its shares trading essentially sideways on Friday afternoon while Splunk shares headed 2% lower.

Sure, both data analysis stocks missed out on a generally positive market day, but the reaction largely amounted to investors shrugging off Qlik's market data until these companies report their own results.

Tableau's next report is less than two weeks away while Splunk investors will have to wait about a month.

The article Why Qlik Technologies Inc. Fell on Friday originally appeared on Fool.com.

Anders Bylund has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Splunk. The Motley Fool recommends Qlik Technologies. 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.