Looking back on finance and HR software stocks' Q4 earnings, we examine this quarters’ best and worst performers, including Bill.com (NYSE:BILL) and its peers.
Organizations are constantly looking to improve organizational efficiencies, whether it is financial planning, tax management or payroll. Finance and HR software benefit from the SaaS-ification of businesses, large and small, who much prefer the flexibility of cloud-based, web-browser delivered software paid for on a subscription basis than the hassle and expense of purchasing and managing on-premise enterprise software.
The 17 finance and HR software stocks we track reported a solid Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 5.66%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 2.56% above consensus. The technology sell-off has been putting pressure on stocks since November, but finance and HR software stocks held their ground better than others, with share price down 1.31% since earnings, on average.
Bill.com (NYSE:BILL)
Started by René Lacerte in 2006 after selling his previous payroll and accounting software company PayCycle to Intuit, Bill.com (NYSE:BILL) is a software as a service platform that aims to make payments and billing processes easier for small and medium-sized businesses.
Bill.com reported revenues of $156.4 million, up 189% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 19.3%. It was a stunning quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analyst estimates and a very optimistic guidance for the next quarter.
“We continued to see strong growth across our business in the second quarter and delivered accelerated revenue growth at a meaningful scale,” said René Lacerte, Bill.com CEO and Founder.
Bill.com scored the fastest revenue growth of the whole group. The company added 8,200 customers to a total of 135,000. The stock is up 14.1% since the results and currently trades at $193.99.
We think Bill.com is a good business, but is it a buy today? Read our full report here, it's free.
Best Q4: Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ)
Founded by CEO Jason Gardner in 2009, Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ) is an innovative card issuer that provides companies with the ability to issue and process virtual, physical, and tokenized credit and debit cards.
Marqeta reported revenues of $155.4 million, up 76.2% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 12.7%. It was a strong quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in gross margin and an impressive beat of analyst estimates.
The stock is up 1.3% since the results and currently trades at $10.85.
Is now the time to buy Marqeta? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Weakest Q4: Coupa (NASDAQ:COUP)
Founded in 2006 by former Oracle executives, Coupa Software (COUP) is a software as a service platform that helps enterprises manage their spending across procurement, billing and business expenses and get a better visibility into how the money is spent.
Coupa reported revenues of $193.2 million, up 18.1% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 3.82%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with revenue guidance missing analysts' expectations for both the full year and the next quarter.
Coupa had the weakest full year guidance update in the group. The stock is up 7.56% since the results and currently trades at $96.69.
Read our full analysis of Coupa's results here.
Ceridian (NYSE:CDAY)
Founded in 1992 as an outsourced payroll processor and transformed after the 2012 acquisition of Dayforce, Ceridian (NYSE:CDAY) is a provider of cloud based payroll and HR software targeted at mid-sized businesses.
Ceridian reported revenues of $282.1 million, up 26.6% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.56%. It was a solid quarter for the company, with accelerating customer growth and a decent beat of analyst estimates.
The company added 207 customers to a total of 5,434. The stock is down 26.4% since the results and currently trades at $59.58.
Read our full, actionable report on Ceridian here, it's free.
Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY)
Founded by industry veterans Aneel Bushri and Dave Duffield after their former company PeopleSoft was acquired by Oracle in a hostile takeover, Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) provides cloud-based software for organizations to manage and plan finance and human resources.
Workday reported revenues of $1.37 billion, up 21.6% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a decent beat of top-line analysts' estimates but a decline in gross margin.
The stock is down 3.57% since the results and currently trades at $221.29.
Read our full, actionable report on Workday here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned