Splunk, Inc. (SPLK) Misled Shareholders About its Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results
On October 21, 2020, Splunk held a call with several analysis at the Virtual Analyst & investor Session at conf.20. During the call, Splunk assured investors that everything was on track for its third quarter 2021 financial results. However, after the markets closed on December 2, 2020, Splunk announced disappointing results for its third quarter 2021, including an 11% decrease in total revenues, which missed estimated by nearly $60 million. On an earnings call the same day, Splunk admitted that despite reiterating its 2021 third quarter guidance just 10 days before the close of the quarter, the results fell “short of both our expectation and our communication of those expectations.” On this news, JPMorgan announced it was “blindsided by the magnitude of too many large details slipping in the final days of October.” Shares of Splunk plummeted, closing down over 24% on December 3, 2020. Shareholders later learned that Splunk had failed to disclose it was not closing deals with its largest customers and was not hitting the financial targets it had previously announced.
