Earnings results often give us a good indication of what direction the company will take in the months ahead. With Q4 now behind us, let’s have a look at Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) and its peers.
Software is eating the world, as Marc Andreessen says, and there is virtually no industry left that has been untouched by it. That in turn drives increasing demand for tools that help software developers do their jobs, whether it is monitoring critical cloud infrastructure, integrating audio and video functionality or ensuring smooth streaming of content.
The 14 software development stocks we track reported a slower Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 3.04%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 1.28% under consensus. There has been a stampede out of high valuation technology stocks as raising interest rates encourage investors to value profits over growth again, but software development stocks held their ground better than others, with share prices down 1.76% since the previous earnings results, on average.
Twilio (NYSE:TWLO)
Founded in 2008 by Jeff Lawson, a former engineer at Amazon, Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) is a software as a service platform that makes it really easy for software developers to use text messaging, voice calls and other forms of communication in their apps.
Twilio reported revenues of $1.02 billion, up 21.6% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.43%. Despite the stock rising on the results, it was a slower quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a decline in net revenue retention rate.
“This week, we announced meaningful changes to Twilio’s leadership group, organizational structure, team size and capital allocation strategy that will both accelerate our path to profitability and most importantly, improve our execution in delivering our Engagement Platform strategy for our customers,” said Jeff Lawson.
The stock is down 0.21% since the results and currently trades at $65.93.
Read our full report on Twilio here, it's free.
Best Q4: Sumo Logic (NASDAQ:SUMO)
Founded in 2010 by Christian Beegden who went from driving a cab in Germany to landing an internship at Amazon, Sumo Logic (NASDAQ:SUMO) is software as a service data analytics platform that helps companies get insight into what is happening in their servers and applications.
Sumo Logic reported revenues of $79 million, up 27.3% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 6.41%. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in gross margin and a solid beat of analyst estimates.
Sumo Logic achieved the highest full year guidance raise among its peers. The stock is up 65% since the results and currently trades at $11.88.
Is now the time to buy Sumo Logic? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Weakest Q4: Agora (NASDAQ:API)
Founded in 2014 by former engineers at WebEx and based in China, Agora (NASDAQ:API) provides a cloud platform that makes it easy for developers to integrate real-time audio and video functionalities in their apps.
Agora reported revenues of $40.1 million, down 0.66% year on year, missing analyst expectations by 1.12%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with a full year guidance missing analysts' expectations and slow revenue growth.
Agora had the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth in the group. The company added 79 customers to a total of 3,066. The stock is down 12.3% since the results and currently trades at $3.36.
Read our full analysis of Agora's results here.
F5 Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV)
While the company initially started in the late 90s by selling hardware appliances, these days F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) is making software that helps large enterprises ensure their web applications are always available, by distributing network traffic and protecting them from cyber attacks.
F5 Networks reported revenues of $700.4 million, up 1.93% year on year, missing analyst expectations by 0.05%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with slow revenue growth and underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter.
The stock is down 0.76% since the results and currently trades at $145.34.
Read our full, actionable report on F5 Networks here, it's free.
HashiCorp (NASDAQ:HCP)
Initially created as a research project at the University of Washington, HashiCorp (NASDAQ:HCP) provides software that helps companies operate their own applications in a multi-cloud environment.
HashiCorp reported revenues of $135.8 million, up 40.7% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 9.3%. It was a decent quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analyst estimates but underwhelming guidance for the next year.
HashiCorp delivered the strongest analyst estimates beat among the peers. The company added 38 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to a total of 798. The stock is up 1.81% since the results and currently trades at $30.3.
Read our full, actionable report on HashiCorp here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned