Extreme Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXTR) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Eric Martinuzzi: Okay. And then you talked about the health of the pipeline. I was wondering if you could take that down to your geographic levels and talk about USA, EMEA and APAC pipeline?

Ed Meyercord: It’s interesting, Eric. It’s strong across the board. We’ve been getting a lot of questions about, are we seeing softness? We’ve heard other companies talking about it kind of macro-tech in general. So we’ve drilled down and we’ve been doing RD (ph) level calls across all regions. And interestingly across the board globally, our teams are calling strength and it shows up in terms of the leadership and then the directors and literally our direct sellers are rolling up and what they’re calling. In terms of the pipeline and our funnel analytics, we’ve got very good visibility and we’re getting much better at calling numbers and we have this AI tool that we use that helps us call it. So I’m going to call it across the Board.

There’s not specific strength or weakness to call out, other than the recovery in APAC. Asia-Pacific and some of our markets there have been hit by currency, other issues and that — we felt that this quarter, but the teams have a plan and we have new leadership in markets and we’re expecting a really strong recovery in Asia Pacific.

Eric Martinuzzi: Got it. Thanks for taking my questions.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Mike Genovese with Rosenblatt Securities. Your line is open.

Mike Genovese: Great. Thanks a lot. So there was a lot of positive commentary on the subscription and SaaS revenue growth, but the subscription growth went down to 30 from 60 in the quarter before. So can we just get more color on whether tough comps or timing issues, and what do you expect in the second half of the year on that subscription growth?

Ed Meyercord: Yeah. So, thanks, Mike. Yeah, subscription growth, if we look at quarter-over-quarter subscription growth, year-over-year subscription growth, the trends have been somewhat consistent, what we’ve call is a long-term range where we’ve said, you’re going to see a 30% to 40% subscription growth. We have a lot of — as you’re well aware, we have a lot of our subscription in backlog. So it’s a function of the timing of the release of backlog, and it’s the timing of the release of backlog. And then, as you know, when we release subscription, you get — there is a delay in terms of how you recognize revenue because of the accrual. So one of the things Cristina commented on, was the 38% growth in terms of the accrued subscription revenue, deferred revenue and then we think you’ll see that rollout, but the long term model is, I’m sorry, 25% to 35% and that’s the normalized level that, that I know we put out for our long-term guidance.

And 33% fall is going to right in the middle there, but we would expect that to continue. Cristina, I don’t know if you want to add other color to that?

Cristina Tate: Yeah. It is in line with our guidance, long-term guidance. And so, that is according to expectations and there is a bit of a timing with regards to attached product as well. So some of our subscription bookings are attached to wireless bookings and so, there will be a little bit of fluctuation quarter-to-quarter due to that.

Mike Genovese: Okay. Great. Thanks. And then I know this is hard to call out at this time and make an accurate forecast, but in terms of fiscal ’24 gross margins versus fiscal ’23 gross margins, I’d love to get your thoughts on, how — roughly how many points of improvement that supply chain and other factors like software mix could drive in the gross margin for ’24?