The data-security firm topped forecasts, tightened expected losses, lifted its revenue targets, and sent its stock higher after hours.
What’s going on here?
Data-security firm Rubrik narrowed its losses and grew sales faster than expected last quarter, then raised its outlook for this year and next – sending the stock up more than 10% after hours.
What does this mean?
Rubrik is giving investors a glimpse of what happens when a fast-growing software firm starts to clamp down on costs. The company reported fiscal third-quarter non-GAAP earnings of $0.10 per diluted share, swinging from a non-GAAP loss of $0.21 a year earlier and easily topping Wall Street’s call for a $0.17 loss. Revenue jumped 48% to $350.2 million from $236.2 million, well ahead of the $320.5 million analysts were expecting. Management now forecasts a smaller non-GAAP loss of $0.12 to $0.10 per share in the current quarter, with revenue between $341 million and $343 million – both better than consensus estimates. Looking further out, Rubrik sharply narrowed its fiscal 2026 loss forecast to $0.20 to $0.16 per share from a prior $0.50 to $0.44, while nudging its revenue outlook up to about $1.28 billion, above the roughly $1.23 billion analysts had penciled in.
Why should I care?
For markets: Security software’s growth story is still alive.
Rubrik’s results underscore that data protection and backup tools remain near the top of IT spending lists, even as firms trim broader tech budgets. Nearly 50% year-on-year revenue growth and consistent beats versus analyst estimates suggest demand for securing and recovering corporate data is holding up better than many other software categories. The stock’s roughly 10% after-hours jump shows investors are rewarding not just rapid growth, but clear progress toward profitability and more predictable guidance. In a market that’s picky about richly valued software names, a combination like that can help support sentiment toward the wider cybersecurity and infrastructure software space.
The bigger picture: Profit pathways matter more than promises.
Rubrik’s updated guidance shows how quickly the story can change once a high-growth firm draws a straighter line toward smaller losses. Slashing its projected fiscal 2026 non-GAAP loss per share from around $0.50 to as little as $0.16 signals that management is leaning into operating discipline, not just headline revenue gains. At the same time, lifting the revenue outlook to about $1.28 billion – above both prior guidance and analyst expectations – hints that efficiency isn’t coming at the cost of expansion. That blend of strong top-line growth and shrinking losses is increasingly what public markets expect from newer software listings, and it could become the benchmark that other data and cybersecurity firms are pushed to meet.
