Extreme Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXTR) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

There’s a lot of interest in MSP. We’re seeing a lot more people turn to MSP. We’ve talked about some of our other strategic investments in terms of global security compliance certifications that apply in the U.S. market as well as targeted opportunities abroad. And we have some other interesting opportunities that are really white spaces for us where we haven’t played. So as we look at the components of core market taking share, and then we look at new white space investments where we haven’t played before, and they’re more commercial models, they don’t require heavy investment. But it’s more about relationship and go-to-market. And these are new for us and they’re just at the early stages of ramp. So those growth rates will be much higher than the market.

And to Kevin’s point, I would encourage participation next week at our investor conference because we’re going to get into it in a lot of detail.

Christian Schwab: Okay, great.

Ed Meyercord: And the last point I would make is that subscription line is growing at 30%.

Christian Schwab: Right. Right. No, I understood that math. I just wanted the market share gain math, which I think you directionally understand what you’re saying. Yes. Great. Thank you.

Ed Meyercord: Thanks, Christian.

Kevin Rhodes: Yes. Thanks, Christian.

Operator: One moment for our next question. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Greg Mesniaeff with West Park Capital. Your line is open.

Greg Mesniaeff: Yes, thank you. Looking at your geographic distribution, can you hear me?

Ed Meyercord: Yes, we can.

Kevin Rhodes: Yes, we gotcha.

Greg Mesniaeff: Oh, good. Okay, gotcha. Okay, looking at your global geographic distribution, I think EMEA was about 40% last quarter. I didn’t see what it was this slide. I haven’t had a chance to see it yet. But going forward, given that EMEA has been a soft area for you for understandable reasons, do you foresee just shifting your sales and marketing focus more back home to the domestic market and maybe to Asia Pac markets, to kind of offset, to kind of channel your resources where the opportunities are still strong from a macro standpoint?

Kevin Rhodes: Yes. Greg, EMEA is still hovering around 40%. I think it was 41%-ish. We talked about realigning resources and the answer is yes. We’re actively managing. Fortunately, because of our size and because of the way we manage the business, we move very quickly. And yes, we’re realigning resources to drive our investment behind success where we see the growth markets. Within a very short time when we realized what was going on here with near-term demand, we made some quick decisions as we pointed out. And a lot of those decisions were around go-to-market. And we commented on investment in Asia Pacific. There’s a lot of year-over-year growth in Asia Pacific for us will be higher above the mean overall. And we’re looking at target investments, for example, in federal where we have significant opportunities and in other pockets.

But your point is spot on. Yes, we’re looking at realigning resources where we can drive growth in the business. And we also look at the productivity of our resources that are in the field. And if sales are off, then we have to realign those resources to make sure we’re driving productivity.

Greg Mesniaeff: Gotcha. And my follow on is, Ed, you very briefly mentioned what I thought was a very interesting opportunity that you are currently in, I guess, discussions with some carriers about offering a enterprise solution through wireless carriers. Can you give a little more color on that?

Ed Meyercord: Yes. I think we’ll talk more in detail next week at our Investor Conference. But the bottom line is that we have some strong relationships with some very large service providers who are just satisfied with current networking relationships. And there’s been a kind of, I’d say, mutual outreach. We see some creative ways to work with them, to help them drive the profitability of their business. There’s a lot of interest in this. It’s still early innings, but the volumes and potential size of the opportunities are quite large. And so, yes, there’s an opportunity for us to work with them in a way where they can enhance and drive profitability and kind of reinvigorate some of their enterprise sales by replacing, I’d say, some of maybe the older, larger networking vendors with Extreme. And we’ve got a customized solution that we’re working on and we’ll share more details in Investor Day.

Greg Mesniaeff: Thank you.

Ed Meyercord: Thanks, Greg.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Mike Genovese with Rosenblatt Securities. Your line is open.

Mike Genovese: Hi. Great, thanks. A lot of my questions have been asked already. Questions about your sort of new go-to-market initiatives and confidence that orders will come back. So I’ll just want to kind of summarize those comments for us again? And then my second question, which I’ll ask now is just if you could talk about margins. Despite the revenue cut, you’re still looking for pretty good EPS growth. So just sort of go through those dynamics of what we should expect from margins a little bit more, please? Thanks.