Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.09 EPS

Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by $0.09, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $74.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.36 million. Quantum updated its Q4 2026 guidance to -0.430–0.230 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Quantum’s conference call:

• Quantum beat expectations in Q3 with $74.6 million revenue, a sequential improvement to positive adjusted EBITDA of $2.9 million, and exited the quarter with backlog well above historical levels (reported at > $20 million).
• Tape demand doubled quarter-over-quarter and the company highlighted large strategic wins — including an initial 100 petabyte deployment (planned to scale to 400PB) combining ActiveScale Cold Storage and Scalar tape as customers repatriate cloud data to on-prem archive.
• Shareholders approved a debt exchange that cut term debt roughly in half but triggered a $28.9 million GAAP debt-extinguishment charge; the issued convertible note and forbearance warrants will create ongoing GAAP volatility tied to the stock price, and net debt remains elevated (~$116.7 million).
• Management warned of severe industry-wide supply-chain disruption and rapid component price inflation (prices reportedly doubled or tripled in days), which is constraining fulfillment and pressuring margins; Q4 guidance is conservative at ~$68 million ± $2 million revenue and adjusted EBITDA expected around breakeven ± $2 million.
• Restructuring and a sales realignment have reduced the cost base and improved execution, producing lower operating expenses, stronger lead generation, and a growing pipeline of multi-product, multi-million-dollar deals that management says is driving momentum.

Quantum Stock Performance

QMCO opened at $5.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $76.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 2.66. Quantum has a twelve month low of $4.89 and a twelve month high of $24.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on QMCO. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Quantum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $13.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Quantum in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Quantum has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quantum

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of QMCO. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Quantum by 9.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 69,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $692,000 after purchasing an additional 5,806 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Quantum during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,775,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Quantum in the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Quantum by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 303,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,012,000 after acquiring an additional 46,919 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Quantum by 322.1% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 2,641 shares during the last quarter. 63.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Quantum

Here are the key news stories impacting Quantum this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue beat estimates — Quantum reported $74.6M in revenue (above consensus and the company’s earlier guidance), driven by strong quarter‑end shipments; this beat is the main catalyst for the post‑earnings rally. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Improved operating cash flow and reduced operating loss — third‑party summaries note cash used in operations improved materially year‑over‑year and operating loss narrowed, indicating progress on cash conversion and operating efficiency. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Updated Q4 EPS guidance — the company gave EPS guidance of -0.430 to -0.230 for fiscal Q4 2026; the range is still negative but narrows visibility for next quarter. (Guidance release noted separately by the company.)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and institutional activity — at least one recent analyst Outperform rating and reported institutional buying in recent quarters provide some external support to the stock’s outlook. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP net loss and EPS volatility — third‑party reporting shows a large net loss and a wide EPS swing (Quiver reports a sizable GAAP net loss and a much worse EPS figure on a different basis), underscoring earnings volatility and potential one‑time/non‑cash charges. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Balance sheet pressure — cash and cash equivalents declined (reported at about $13.2M in third‑party data) while total liabilities remain elevated (~$333.5M), which raises refinancing and liquidity concerns for a small‑cap company. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — recent filings show insider sales over the past six months (no purchases), which can be interpreted negatively by some investors. Read More.

About Quantum

Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ: QMCO) is a technology company that develops and delivers data management and storage solutions for businesses and organizations worldwide. The company’s product portfolio includes hardware, software and cloud-based offerings designed to address backup, archive, primary storage and long-term retention needs. Quantum’s solutions are geared toward data-intensive environments such as media and entertainment, surveillance, government, education and healthcare, where large volumes of digital content must be reliably stored, managed and accessed.

Quantum’s flagship products include the StorNext® data management platform, which provides high-performance shared file storage and workflow acceleration, and the DXi® series of deduplication appliances, which optimize backup and recovery by reducing storage footprints and data transfer times.