Doximity (NYSE:DOCS) Reports Q4 In Line With Expectations But Stock Drops

Healthcare professional network Doximity (NYSE:DOCS) reported results in line with analyst expectations in Q4 FY2023 quarter, with revenue up 18.5% year on year to $111 million. Guidance for the full year also exceeded estimates, however the guidance for the next quarter was less impressive, coming in at $107 million, 4.28% below analyst estimates. Doximity made a GAAP profit of $30.7 million, down on its profit of $36.7 million, in the same quarter last year.

Founded in 2010 and named for a combination of “docs” and “proximity”, Doximity (NYSE: DOCS) is the leading social network for U.S. medical professionals.

The U.S.healthcare system has lagged other sectors and industries in creating innovative technology solutions for basic issues. A primary example are electronic health records, which were mandated a decade ago, but still face interoperability issues. Additionally, doctors are challenged by fragmented knowledge bases which makes it difficult to stay on top of the latest developments in treatment and research, and it is often difficult to connect with top specialists around the country. Likewise, many pharmaceutical manufacturers and health systems don’t have a good source for targeted marketing campaigns or recruiting initiatives.

Doximity was created as a professional cloud-based platform to solve these issues, sort of a cross between LinkedIn and Salesforce.com. Membership for physicians is free, and Doximity provides workflow tools that enable them to collaborate with their colleagues, securely coordinate patient care, conduct virtual patient visits, stay up-to-date with the latest medical news and research, and manage their careers. With a majority of US doctors on the platform, Doximity has become the default US medical professional network, with network effects helping it to sustain its position.

The company’s business model is largely subscription based marketing, with large pharmaceutical companies and health care systems able to direct tailored content to an aggregated collection of specialists across any field. Other revenue generators include Dialer, Doximity’s Telehealth tool, and Hiring solutions, which are recruiting tools.

The coronavirus pandemic has underscored the importance of high-quality health infrastructure in times of crisis. Coupled with intense competition between drugmakers and the growing volume of data in the health care sector, demand for data management solutions in the healthcare space is expected to remain strong in the years ahead.

Doximity’s competitors on the advertising side of the business include Microsoft’s LinkedIn (NASDAQ: MSFT), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), along with Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Twitter (NASDAQ: TWTR). On the telehealth side, Doximity’s chief rivals include American Well Corporation (NYSE: AMWL) and Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC).

Sales Growth

As you can see below, Doximity's revenue growth has been impressive over the last two years, growing from quarterly revenue of $66.7 million in Q4 FY2021, to $111 million.

This quarter, Doximity's quarterly revenue was once again up 18.5% year on year. But the revenue actually decreased by $4.3 million in Q4, compared to $13.1 million increase in Q3 2023. If we take a closer look, we'll observe a similar revenue decline in the same quarter last year, which could suggest the decline is seasonal. However, the management is guiding for a further drop in revenue in the next quarter, so it is definitely worth keeping an eye on the situation.

Guidance for the next quarter indicates Doximity is expecting revenue to grow 18.1% year on year to $107 million, slowing down from the 24.7% year-over-year increase in revenue the company had recorded in the same quarter last year. For the upcoming financial year management expects revenue to be $503 million at the midpoint, growing 20% compared to 22% increase in FY2023.

Profitability

What makes the software as a service business so attractive is that once the software is developed, it typically shouldn't cost much to provide it as an ongoing service to customers. Doximity's gross profit margin, an important metric measuring how much money there is left after paying for servers, licenses, technical support and other necessary running expenses was at 87.7% in Q4.

That means that for every $1 in revenue the company had $0.88 left to spend on developing new products, marketing & sales and the general administrative overhead. This is a great gross margin, that allows companies like Doximity to fund large investments in product and sales during periods of rapid growth and be profitable when they reach maturity. It is good to see that the gross margin is staying stable which indicates that Doximity is doing a good job controlling costs and is not under pressure from competition to lower prices.

Cash Is King

If you have followed StockStory for a while, you know that we put an emphasis on cash flow. Why, you ask? We believe that in the end cash is king, as you can't use accounting profits to pay the bills. Doximity's free cash flow came in at $45.6 million in Q4, roughly the same as last year.

Doximity has generated $173.4 million in free cash flow over the last twelve months, an impressive 41.4% of revenues. This robust FCF margin is a result of Doximity asset lite business model, scale advantages, and strong competitive positioning, and provides it the option to return capital to shareholders while still having plenty of cash to invest in the business.

Key Takeaways from Doximity's Q4 Results

With a market capitalization of $6.61 billion Doximity is among smaller companies, but its more than $841 million in cash and positive free cash flow over the last twelve months give us confidence that Doximity has the resources it needs to pursue a high growth business strategy.

Revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for the next year were both ahead of expectations, which was a positive. On the other hand, revenue was just inline. Additionally, it was unfortunate to see that the revenue as well as adj. EBITDA guidance for the next quarter missed analysts' expectations. Overall, it seems to us that this was a complicated quarter for Doximity. The company is down 5.82% on the results and currently trades at $31.89 per share.

Is Now The Time?

Doximity may have had a bad quarter, but investors should also consider its valuation and business qualities, when assessing the investment opportunity. There are numerous reasons why we think Doximity is one of the best software as service companies out there. While we would expect growth rates to moderate from here, its revenue growth has been impressive, over the last two years. On top of that, its bountiful generation of free cash flow empowers it to invest in growth initiatives, and its impressive gross margins are indicative of excellent business economics.

There's no doubt that the market is optimistic about Doximity's growth prospects, as its price to sales ratio based on the next twelve months of 14.4x would suggest. But looking at the tech landscape today, Doximity's qualities as one of the best businesses really stand out and we still like it at this price, despite the higher multiple.

The Wall St analysts covering the company had a one year price target of $37 per share right before these results, implying that they saw upside in buying Doximity even in the short term.

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