Pure Storage $PSTG Takes NewRelic's CMO

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Since Im still invested in PSTG … is anyone else here? I thought it was interesting that New Relic’s CMO went to PSTG

https://seekingalpha.com/pr/17388708-pure-storage-names-robs…

Snipped from the link:

In his 20-plus year career, Grieve has held senior positions across all aspects of marketing, most recently as CMO at software analytics company New Relic. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and CMO at Citrix as well as Executive Vice President of Global Marketing and Customer Experience at Concur, which was acquired by SAP in 2014.

Maybe they missing piece for their growth is just their exposure level? Also interesting to see that New Relic didnt have any news about their CMO leaving?

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Hi Mercatorn-

I still own PSTG.

So far it has been a mistake.

For some context, I normally have about 15 stocks, and I build each full position to between 5-6% of my portfolio and then let them run.

I did the same with PSTG, and it is now a 4.2% position. In contrast, AYX and Twlo are up to about 11% of my portfolio. So it has definitely under-performed for me.

Revenue is growing around 37% (was 40% last year), so a slight decrease.

All margins are improving nicely which I really like, they are now FCF positive (about 5% this year).

Clearly with all the data storage needs and growing, the TAM should be huge and growing.

They appear to have a moat with their tech., partnerships with NVDA, etc.

One of the main reasons I purchased them was the CEO, Charlie Giancarlo, who has an impressive career and who I think had a pick of which job he wanted, chose PSTG for a reason.

Now it appears the new CMO, who is leaving a company (NEWR which I also own) growing at about the same rate as PSTG, is picking PSTG for a reason. Maybe it’s just money, I don’t know, but I like to think the people that are experts in these fields are choosing PSTG for a reason.

It will be interesting to find out if the old CMO left because he was pushed out, or found another opportunity.

Jim
long PSTG for now, but losing patience

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not sure why you say you are ‘losing patience’. The market will do what it does in the next few weeks and in the next few months. Are you asking the market to become more interested in that timeframe? That’s flipping a coin.

The question to ask from my viewpoint is: where is this business going and where will it be in a few years. Yes for that you need patience. Not sure what you are looking for to say ‘that’s it. I’m done with this’. It certainly has not in the past couple of weeks bounced back as quickly as the SaaS we are talking in here.

Many in here said they sold (right at it peak). I guess that could contribute to your discomfort. I cannot really follow most of them. They buy and when you start to understand the thesis and the business and consider maybe buying or adding, they have already sold it (‘it ran ahead of itself’ etc…). That said I d like to hear a thesis for a long term investment in Pure.

tj

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I still hold PSTG. The revenue growth did slow from 40% to 37% year over year for the past 2 quarters. If they can stay over 35% for this next upcoming quarter, while sustaining the ability to generate cash, I think there’s some fair potential for the share price to appreciate again.

I don’t know if it is reasonable to have any hopes that they can re-accelerate to be back near 40% revenue growth, but if they managed that, buying some shares of PSTG at present levels could end up being quite a good idea.

volfan84

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