SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Splunk Inc. (SPLK) on Thursday reported a loss of $305.6 million in its fiscal first quarter.

On a per-share basis, the San Francisco-based company said it had a loss of $1.94. Losses, adjusted for stock option expense and pretax expenses, were 56 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 57 cents per share.

The maker of software that helps companies collect and analyze internal data posted revenue of $434.1 million in the period, missing Street forecasts. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $444.5 million.

For the current quarter ending in August, Splunk said it expects revenue in the range of $520 million. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $554.4 million.

Splunk shares have risen 9% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $163.45, a rise of 18% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on SPLK at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SPLK

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News