As the craze of earnings season draws to a close, here's a look back at some of the most exciting (and some less so) results from Q4. Today we are looking at the software development stocks, starting with Twilio (NYSE:TWLO).
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 13 software development stocks we track reported a mixed Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 5.08%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 1.67% above consensus. The technology sell-off has been putting pressure on stocks since November , but software development stocks held their ground better than others, with share price down 3.15% since earnings, 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 $842.7 million, up 53.7% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 9.53%. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a very optimistic guidance for the next quarter but a decline in gross margin.
“Our fourth quarter capped off an amazing year of results as we delivered more than $2.8 billion in revenue for the year, growing 61% year-over-year,” said Jeff Lawson, Twilio’s Co-Founder and CEO.
The stock is down 24.2% since the results and currently trades at $153.01.
Is now the time to buy Twilio? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Best Q4: GitLab (NASDAQ:GTLB)
Founded as an open-source project in 2011, GitLab (NASDAQ:GTLB) is a leading software development tools platform.
GitLab reported revenues of $77.7 million, up 76.2% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 10.6%. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analyst estimates and an exceptional revenue growth.
GitLab delivered the highest full year guidance raise among its peers. The stock is up 48.6% since the results and currently trades at $49.22.
Is now the time to buy GitLab? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Weakest Q4: Bandwidth (NASDAQ:BAND)
Started in 1999 by David Morken who was later joined by Henry Kaestner as co-founder in 2001, Bandwidth (NASDAQ:BAND) provides thousands of customers with a software platform that uses its own global network to provide phone numbers, voice, and text connectivity.
Bandwidth reported revenues of $126.1 million, up 11.5% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 6.72%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with the guidance for both the next quarter and the full year below analyst estimates.
Bandwidth had the weakest full year guidance update in the group. The company added 55 customers to a total of 3,228. The stock is down 33.2% since the results and currently trades at $31.
Read our full analysis of Bandwidth's results here.
Datadog (NASDAQ:DDOG)
Named after a database the founders had to painstakingly look after at their previous company, Datadog (NASDAQ:DDOG) is a software as a service platform that makes it easier to monitor cloud infrastructure and applications.
Datadog reported revenues of $326.1 million, up 83.7% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 11.9%. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analyst estimates.
Datadog scored the strongest analyst estimates beat and fastest revenue growth among the peers. The company added 210 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to a total of 2,010. The stock is down 8.84% since the results and currently trades at $141.86.
Read our full, actionable report on Datadog here, it's free.
Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM)
Founded in 1999 by two engineers from MIT, Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM) provides software for organizations to efficiently deliver web content to their customers.
Akamai reported revenues of $905.3 million, up 6.98% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 1%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with a slow revenue growth.
Akamai had the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth among the peers. The stock is up 6.02% since the results and currently trades at $117.62.
Read our full, actionable report on Akamai here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned