This afternoon, Red Hat announced its fourth quarter results and fiscal year 2013 results.

Highlights include:

• Fourth quarter revenue of $348 million, up 17% year-over-year; full fiscal year revenue of $1.33 billion, up 17% year-over-year
• Fourth quarter subscription revenue of $303 million, up 19% year-over-year; full fiscal year subscription revenue of $1.15 billion, up 19% year-over-year
• Fourth quarter operating cash flow of $137 million, up 7% year-over-year; full fiscal year operating cash flow of $465 million, up 19% year-over-year
• Year-end deferred revenue balance exceeds a billion dollars, up 15% year-over-year

GAAP operating income for the fourth quarter and the full fiscal year 2013 was $50 million and $201 million, respectively. GAAP operating margin was 14.4% in the fourth quarter and 15.1% for the full year. After adjusting for stock compensation, amortization expenses and certain facility exit costs, as detailed in the tables below, non-GAAP operating income for the quarter was $84 million, or a 24.0% operating margin.

Full year non-GAAP operating income was $326 million and full year non-GAAP operating margin was 24.6%.

Big Data = Big Financial Results 

Red Hat is betting on big data and that should materialize in increased revenue according to Jeff Kelly, analyst at Wikibon.  Kelly recently put out the 2nd installment of Wikibon.org Big Data Market Sizing.

Bloggers also agree with Kelly.  Var Guy has a solid story that highlights this new dynamic for Red Hat.  According to the Var Guy,  Big Data will generate big profits for channel partners that truly understand analytics, social media monitoring, and unstructured data management.