Big Data software maker Splunk (SPLK) didn't make a splash with fourth-quarter earnings reported late Thursday, but it didn't stumble either.

Splunk revenue rose 53% to $99.9 million vs. a year earlier, continuing a long string of double-digit gains. That beat consensus estimates of $90.5 million.

But non-GAAP earnings per share of 3 cents were flat with a year ago and missed the consensus of 5 cents as polled by Thomson Reuters. The GAAP loss came to 30 cents per share, five times the 6 cents lost a year earlier. Splunk continues to invest cash heavily into operations.

Q1 revenue guidance was just shy of Wall Street estimates.

Splunk shares fell 1% in late trading after closing nearly 3% higher at 95.50.

Splunk provides cloud-based software that companies use to gain real-time information via intense data examination. The technology can search, analyze, index and visualize machine-generated data coming from websites, applications, sensors and mobile devices.

It's a field called Big Data, which refers to the massive amounts of data created within digital communications. Analyzing Big Data with Splunk software helps companies better understand business trends and operations, and is intended to save money and create opportunities. It also is designed to reduce cybersecurity risk and fraud.

Splunk added more than 500 customers in Q4 and ended the year with about 7,000 globally.

For the year ended Jan. 31, it lost a net $79 million on revenue of $302.6 million vs. the prior year's loss of $36.6 million on $198.9 million in sales.

Of its $99.9 million in Q4 revenue, Splunk reported gross profit of $88.7 million. But it continues to spend heavily. It invested $76.3 million in sales and marketing in the quarter, up 90% from the year-ago quarter. It invested $26 million in R&D, almost double that of a year ago.

"We'll continue to invest heavily in our product roadmap," said Godfrey Sullivan, chairman and CEO, in a post-earnings conference call.

Splunk ended the year with almost $900 million cash, of which about $500 million came from a January follow-on stock offering.

License revenue of $68.8 million was up 47% year-over-year. Maintenance and services revenue reached $31 million, up 67%.

It guided Q1 revenue to $78 million-$80 million. Analysts see $79.4 million. Full-year revenue is expected to be about $400 mil lion, above views of $396 million.

Splunk launched its initial public offering in April 2012, pricing shares at $17. The stock is up more than 460% since then.

Demand for Big Data technology is evident in the upcoming initial public offering of Varonis Systems (VRNS). Varonis was scheduled to price its IPO Thursday night and begin trading Friday.Update: Varonis sold 4.8 million shares late Thursday at $22 a pop. Earlier in the day, the company raised its expected price range to $19-$21 a share from $17-$19.

Similar to Splunk, Varonis provides a software platform to map, analyze and manage data that are not easily classified or tagged, also known as unstructured data. Many of these data are buried inside spreadsheets or Word documents, in audio and video files, emails and text messages. Varonis mines and extracts these data to help companies make better business decisions, as does Splunk.