Anybody that has invested in Fusion-IO, Inc. (NYSE:FIO) since the IPO back in 2011 probably has given up on catalysts for a rebound. The stock originally plunged as top customers Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) supposedly reduced spending for the short-term, yet it has now led to the founders leaving the company, further questioning its growth potential.
The leader of server-side flash storage has seen a lack of growth in the two key customers along with a more competitive landscape where competitors could potentially offer a similar product for half the price. Analysts now debate whether the former flash storage leader can ever return to glory as the business becomes more commoditized with bigger players joining the fray and the founders gone. In fact, old storage leaders Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) have greatly outperformed the darling IPO since it went public.
See chart below for the one-year returns:
FIO Total Return Price data by YCharts
Positive analysts
The bullish analysts forecast revenue growth of 21% in 2013 and another 30% in 2014 even as Fusion-IO, Inc. (NYSE:FIO) faces a tough climate with existing customers and margin pressure. Even the bullish analysts place limited gains on earnings. In fact, analysts expect fiscal 2014 earnings to be lower than 2012 even with the bullish revenue growth.
At the end of June, UBS predicted that the next 30% move by Fusion-IO, Inc. (NYSE:FIO) would be a 30% gain by issuing a $19 price target while the stock currently trades below $14. This note is definitely bullish considering all the relentless downside pressure.
Negative analysts
The negatives appear to be winning the day with the stock trading near all-time lows. Jordan Novet of Gigaom wrote a great piece highlighting the issues leading the stock to these lows. Jordan makes a great point about bigger competitors EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) making pushes into the flash storage space and how Rackable Systems faced huge revenue declines when Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) left as a customer.
Jim Bagley, senior analyst at Storage Strategies NOW, sees foundry operators such as Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) as huge challengers for enterprise customers. He sees those competitors as being able to eventually offer a similar solution for half the price.
Analysts Howard Marks of DeepStorage sees the competitive advantages of Fusion-IO, Inc. (NYSE:FIO) dissolving over time and ironically used the same example of customers being able to buy similar products for half the price.
New management
While the analyst positions appear to offset each other, the real negative is the pair of co-founders leaving the company with it struggling. Did they abandon a sinking ship?
On May 8, David Flynn resigned as CEO and President and Rick White resigned as Chief Marketing Officer. A turnaround is hard to imagine taking place with these two co-founders and leaders leaving the company.
Shane Robinson was named the new CEO and President. Robinson most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer of Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) until Nov. 1, 2011. While clearly somebody with experience in the technology sector, a vice president from Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) back in 2011 doesn’t instill a ton of confidence compared to the guys that were seen as leaders in flash storage.
