Pivotal Software hits new highs after first earnings report since IPO

Pivotal Software Inc. jumped 8% in immediate after-hours trading Tuesday after the company released its first quarterly earnings report since an April initial public offering. Shares in the software company, a joint venture from VMware Inc. and EMC that is now majority owned by Dell Technologies Inc., hit price levels they have yet to see in regular trading. Pivotal reported a fiscal first-quarter net loss of $32.5 million, or 31 cents a share, on sales of $155.7 million, with revenue rising 28% from the same quarter a year ago and the net loss declining from 76 cents a share. After adjusting for stock-based compensation -- a hefty expense in the first quarter after an IPO -- Pivotal claimed a loss of 10 cents a share, after claiming adjusted losses of 20 cents a share a year ago. Analysts on average expected adjusted earnings of 13 cents a share on sales of $140.4 million, according to FactSet. Pivotal forecast full-year adjusted losses of 37 cents to 39 cents a share on revenue of $642 million to $649 million, easily beating the average analyst estimate of a loss of 45 cents a share on sales of $622 million, according to FactSet.