Cyber security company SentinelOne (NYSE:S) reported Q3 FY2023 results beating Wall St's expectations, with revenue up 105% year on year to $115.3 million. The company expects that next quarter's revenue would be around $125 million, which is the midpoint of the guidance range. That was in roughly line with analyst expectations. SentinelOne made a GAAP loss of $98.8 million, down on its loss of $68.5 million, in the same quarter last year.
Is now the time to buy SentinelOne? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
SentinelOne (S) Q3 FY2023 Highlights:
- Revenue: $115.3 million vs analyst estimates of $111 million (3.89% beat)
- EPS (non-GAAP): -$0.16 vs analyst estimates of -$0.22
- Revenue guidance for Q4 2023 is $125 million at the midpoint, roughly in line with what analysts were expecting
- Free cash flow was negative $64.7 million, compared to negative free cash flow of $66.8 million in previous quarter
- Net Revenue Retention Rate: 134%, down from 137% previous quarter
- Customers: 9,250, up from 8,600 in previous quarter
- Gross Margin (GAAP): 64.4%, up from 63.6% same quarter last year
“We once again delivered triple digit revenue and ARR growth fueled by strong adoption of our Singularity XDR platform across endpoint, cloud, and identity. Cybersecurity is mission-critical, and our Singularity platform is purpose built for leading protection allowing us to deliver superior platform value,” said Tomer Weingarten, CEO of SentinelOne.
With roots in the Israeli cyber intelligence community, SentinelOne (NYSE:S) provides software to help organizations efficiently detect, prevent, and investigate cyber attacks.
Almost every company is slowly finding itself becoming a technology company and facing cybersecurity risks. As the volume of internet enabled devices grows, every device that employees use to connect to business networks represents a potential risk. Endpoint security software enables businesses to protect devices (endpoints) that employees use for work purposes either on a network or in the cloud from cyber threats.
Sales Growth
As you can see below, SentinelOne's revenue growth has been incredible over the last two years, growing from quarterly revenue of $24.5 million in Q3 FY2021, to $115.3 million.
This was another standout quarter with the revenue up a splendid 105% year on year. But the growth did slow down compared to last quarter, as the revenue increased by just $12.8 million in Q3, compared to $24.2 million in Q2 2023. We'd like to see revenue increase by a greater amount each quarter, but a one-off fluctuation is usually not concerning.
Guidance for the next quarter indicates SentinelOne is expecting revenue to grow 90.4% year on year to $125 million, slowing down from the 119% year-over-year increase in revenue the company had recorded in the same quarter last year. Ahead of the earnings results the analysts covering the company were estimating sales to grow 68.7% over the next twelve months.
In volatile times like these we look for robust businesses with strong pricing power. Unknown to most investors, this company is one of the highest-quality software companies in the world, and their software products have been the default standard in critical industries for decades. The result is an impressive business that is up an incredible 18,152% since the IPO. You can find it on our platform for free.
Product Success
One of the best things about software as a service businesses (and a reason why they trade at such high multiples) is that customers tend to spend more with the company over time.
SentinelOne's net revenue retention rate, an important measure of how much customers from a year ago were spending at the end of the quarter, was at 134% in Q3. That means even if they didn't win any new customers, SentinelOne would have grown its revenue 34% year on year. Despite the recent drop this is still a great retention rate and a clear proof of a great product. We can see that SentinelOne's customers are very satisfied with their software and are using it more and more over time.
Key Takeaways from SentinelOne's Q3 Results
Since it has still been burning cash over the last twelve months it is worth keeping an eye on SentinelOne’s balance sheet, but we note that with a market capitalization of $4 billion and more than $701.2 million in cash, the company has the capacity to continue to prioritise growth over profitability.
We were impressed by the exceptional revenue growth SentinelOne delivered this quarter. And we were also excited to see that it outperformed analysts' revenue expectations. On the other hand, there was a deterioration in revenue retention rate. Overall, this quarter's results seemed pretty positive and shareholders can feel optimistic. But investors might have been expecting more and the company is down 0.99% on the results and currently trades at $14 per share.
Should you invest in SentinelOne right now? It is important that you take into account its valuation and business qualities, as well as what happened in the latest quarter. We look at that in our actionable report which you can read here, it's free.
One way to find opportunities in the market is to watch for generational shifts in the economy. Almost every company is slowly finding itself becoming a technology company and facing cybersecurity risks and as a result, the demand for cloud-native cybersecurity is skyrocketing. This company is leading a massive technological shift in the industry and with revenue growth of 70% year on year and best-in-class SaaS metrics it should definitely be on your radar.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.