Teradata Profit Up Again on Big Data and Data Analytics Demand

The demand for big data and data analytics products boosted Teradata's sales by 21 percent in the most recent quarter.

Teradata Corp raised its full-year outlook after its quarterly profit and revenue beat Wall Street estimates as demand for its data storage and analytics products boosted sales by 21 percent, sending its shares up 9 percent to a life high.

The company, whose products store and analyze huge amounts of data, is betting on the growing market for "big data" -- the ability to analyze vast amounts of stored information in real time.

The big data market, now worth about $5 billion a year, is expected to grow to $50 billion in the next five years, including software, hardware, and services revenue, according to open source market research firm Wikibon.

The concept is behind the highly successful IPOs of startups such as Splunk Inc.

"Teradata is well positioned in three large and growing markets - data warehousing, big data analytics and integrated marketing management," CEO Mike Koehler said in a statement.

The company, whose customers include Arrow Electronics Inc , Safeway Inc and Macy's Inc, raised its adjusted profit forecast range by 4 cents per share. It now expects a profit of $2.60 to $2.70 per share, excluding items.

It also raised its full-year revenue growth outlook to 12-14 percent, implying revenue of $2.65 billion to $2.69 billion, from 10-12 percent.

Rival EMC Corp, the world's biggest maker of corporate data storage equipment, said in April that it expected to meet or possibly exceed its 2012 targets. Investors considered the outlook to be conservative after IBM Corp raised its forecast for the year.

Teradata said on Thursday that its net income rose to $91 million, or 53 cents per share, in the first quarter from $65 million, or 38 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose to $613 million from $506 million.

The company's shares rose to $78.76 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has risen 24 percent since the company reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results on Feb. 22. (Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Sreejiraj Eluvangal and Ted Kerr)