As we reflect back on the just completed Q4 data infrastructure sector earnings season, we dig into the relative performance of Elastic (NYSE:ESTC) and its peers.
Generating insights from system level data is an increasing priority for most businesses, but to do so requires connecting and analyzing piles of data stored and siloed in separate databases. This is the demand driver for cloud based data infrastructure software providers, who can more readily integrate, distribute and process information vs. legacy on-premise software providers.
The 4 data infrastructure stocks we track reported a weaker Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 2.67%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 0.44% under consensus. Increasing interest rates hurt growth companies as investors search for near-term cash flows, but data infrastructure stocks held their ground better than others, with the share prices up 4.47% since the previous earnings results, on average.
Elastic (NYSE:ESTC)
Started by Shay Banon as a search engine for his wife's growing list of recipes at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, Elastic (NYSE:ESTC) helps companies integrate search into their products and monitor their cloud infrastructure.
Elastic reported revenues of $274.6 million, up 22.6% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weak quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and decelerating customer growth.
“We grew total revenue by 27% in constant currency while managing our business with discipline to deliver stronger than expected non-GAAP operating margin,” said Ash Kulkarni, CEO, Elastic.
Elastic delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and weakest full year guidance update of the whole group. The company added 60 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to a total of 1,110. The stock is down 6.42% since the results and currently trades at $54.65.
Read our full report on Elastic here, it's free.
Best Q4: C3.ai (NYSE:AI)
Founded in 2009 by enterprise software veteran Tom Seibel, C3.ai (NYSE:AI) provides software that makes it easy for organizations to add artificial intelligence technology to their applications.
C3.ai reported revenues of $66.7 million, down 4.45% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 3.77%. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a decent beat of analyst estimates but declining revenue.
C3.ai pulled off the strongest analyst estimates beat and highest full year guidance raise among its peers. The stock is up 6.57% since the results and currently trades at $22.7.
Is now the time to buy C3.ai? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Slowest Q4: Teradata (NYSE:TDC)
Part of point-of-sale and ATM company NCR from 1991 to 2007, Teradata (NYSE:TDC) offers a software-as-service platform that helps organizations manage their data across multiple storages and analyze it.
Teradata reported revenues of $452 million, down 4.84% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 3.76%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with declining revenue and gross margin.
Teradata had the slowest revenue growth in the group. The stock is up 17.2% since the results and currently trades at $40.19.
Read our full analysis of Teradata's results here.
Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT)
Started in 2014 by the team of engineers at LinkedIn who originally built it as an internal tool, Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) provides infrastructure software for organizations that makes it easy and fast to collect and move large amounts of data between different systems.
Confluent reported revenues of $168.7 million, up 40.6% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.7%. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with underwhelming guidance for the next year.
Confluent delivered the fastest revenue growth among the peers. The company added 70 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to a total of 991. The stock is up 0.48% since the results and currently trades at $23.15.
Read our full, actionable report on Confluent here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned