Why Violin Memory Inc Stock Dropped Today

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What:Shares of Violin Memory Inc were down 11.5% as of 11:15 a.m. Wednesday after the company released disappointing first-quarter results.

So what: Quarterly revenue fell 33% year over year to $12.1 million, which translated to an adjusted net loss of $21.2 million, or $0.22 per share. Analysts, on average, were anticipating a narrower adjusted net loss of $0.20 per share on significantly higher revenue of $21.4 million.

"Our first quarter results were unsatisfactory," explained Violin Memory CEO Kevin DeNuccio, "as we continued to experience the short-term effects of transitioning customers to our new Flash Storage Platform solutions."

Now what: DeNuccio added, "We believe that this transitional headwind is now beginning to subside, and we are off to the strongest quarterly start to date with recognizable revenue already approaching 90% of our first quarter total."

As a result -- and with the caveat that DeNuccio called this "very cautious" in the subsequent conference call -- Violin Memory anticipates current-quarter revenue of $16 million to $20 million. Wall Street was modeling higher second-quarter revenue of $22.9 million.

In the end, I can't blame the market for so aggressively bidding down Violin Memory stock today given it's quarterly miss and conservative guidance. Though there's a chance Violin Memory might well be underpromising with that guidance, I'm content continuing to watch the company's progress from the sidelines during this transition.

The article Why Violin Memory Inc Stock Dropped Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Steve Symington has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends American Express. The Motley Fool owns shares of Capital One Financial.. 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.