As sales and marketing software stocks’ Q4 earnings season wraps, let's dig into this quarter's best and worst performers, including Qualtrics (NASDAQ:XM) and its peers.
The Internet and the exploding amount of data have transformed how businesses interact with, market to, and transact with their customers. Personalization of offerings, e-commerce, targeted advertising and data-empowered sales teams are now table stakes for modern businesses, and sales and marketing software providers are becoming the tools of evolving customer interaction.
The 26 sales and marketing software stocks we track reported a weaker Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 1.76%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 1.09% under consensus. Increasing interest rates hurt growth companies as investors search for near-term cash flows, but sales and marketing software stocks held their ground better than others, with the share prices up 4.42% since the previous earnings results, on average.
Qualtrics (NASDAQ:XM)
Founded in 2002 by Utah-based entrepreneur Ryan Smith, along with his father and brother, Qualtrics (NASDAQ:XM) provides organizations with software to collect and analyze feedback from customers and employees.
Qualtrics reported revenues of $389.1 million, up 23.1% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.09%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next year.
"Qualtrics delivered solid results in Q4, capping off a very strong year of growth and significant operating margin expansion,” said Qualtrics CEO Zig Serafin.
The stock is up 60.6% since the results and currently trades at $18.
Qualtrics has agreed to sell itself to private equity firm Silver Lake and the Canada Pension Investment Board for $12.5 billion in cash.
Read our full report on Qualtrics here, it's free.
Best Q4: Shopify (NYSE:SHOP)
Originally created as an internal tool for a snowboarding company, Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) provides a software platform for building and operating e-commerce businesses.
Shopify reported revenues of $1.73 billion, up 25.7% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 5.11%. It was a strong quarter for the company, with a decent beat of analyst estimates and solid revenue growth.
The stock is down 14.6% since the results and currently trades at $45.58.
Is now the time to buy Shopify? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Weakest Q4: BigCommerce (NASDAQ:BIGC)
Founded in Sydney, Australia in 2009 by Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani, BigCommerce (NASDAQ:BIGC) provides software for businesses to easily create online stores.
BigCommerce reported revenues of $72.4 million, up 11.6% year on year, missing analyst expectations by 1.24%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with revenue guidance for the next quarter and the full year missing analysts' expectations.
The stock is down 27.1% since the results and currently trades at $8.27.
Read our full analysis of BigCommerce's results here.
AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP)
Co-founded by Adam Foroughi who was frustrated with not being able to find a good solution to market his own dating app, AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) is a provider of marketing and monetization tools for mobile app developers and also operates a portfolio of mobile games.
AppLovin reported revenues of $702.3 million, down 11.5% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 1.71%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with declining revenue and gross margin.
AppLovin had the slowest revenue growth among the peers. The stock is up 27.2% since the results and currently trades at $16.16.
Read our full, actionable report on AppLovin here, it's free.
Zeta (NYSE:ZETA)
Co-Founded by former Apple CEO, John Scully, Zeta Global (NYSE:ZETA) provides software and data analytics tools that help companies market their products to billions of customers.
Zeta reported revenues of $175.1 million, up 29.9% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 9.06%. It was a decent quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analyst estimates but underwhelming guidance for the next year.
Zeta pulled off the strongest analyst estimates beat and highest full year guidance raise among the peers. The stock is up 9.49% since the results and currently trades at $9.92.
Read our full, actionable report on Zeta here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned