Latest news with #TomSeibel
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
1 Software Stock with Competitive Advantages and 2 to Approach with Caution
From commerce to culture, software is digitizing every aspect of our lives. In the past, the undeniable tailwinds fueling SaaS companies led to lofty valuation multiples that made it easier to raise capital. But this was a double-edged sword as the high prices exposed them to big drawdowns, and unfortunately, the industry has tumbled by 8.8% over the last six months. This drop was disheartening since the S&P 500 stood firm. Investors should tread carefully as only some businesses are worthy of their valuations, and luckily for you, we started StockStory to help you find them. On that note, here is one resilient software stock at the top of our wish list and two we're swiping left on. Market Cap: $3.23 billion Founded in 2009 by enterprise software veteran Tom Seibel, (NYSE:AI) provides software that makes it easy for organizations to add artificial intelligence technology to their applications. Why Are We Wary of AI? Annual revenue growth of 15.5% over the last three years was below our standards for the software sector Extended payback periods on sales investments suggest the company's platform isn't resonating enough to drive efficient sales conversions Poor expense management has led to operating margin losses At $24.25 per share, trades at 7x forward price-to-sales. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than AI. Market Cap: $1.52 billion Founded in 2000 with the idea that network security comes before endpoint security, Rapid7 (NASDAQ:RPD) provides software as a service that helps companies understand where they are exposed to cyber security risks, quickly detect breaches and respond to them. Why Are We Out on RPD? Offerings struggled to generate meaningful interest as its average billings growth of 4.6% over the last year did not impress Estimated sales growth of 2.1% for the next 12 months implies demand will slow from its three-year trend Projected 2.5 percentage point decline in its free cash flow margin next year reflects the company's plans to increase its investments to defend its market position Rapid7 is trading at $23.73 per share, or 1.8x forward price-to-sales. To fully understand why you should be careful with RPD, check out our full research report (it's free). Market Cap: $63.88 billion Founded in 1982 by John Walker and growing into one of the industry's behemoths, Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) makes computer-aided design (CAD) software for engineering, construction, and architecture companies. Why Does ADSK Stand Out? Billings growth has averaged 23.1% over the last year, indicating a healthy pipeline of new contracts that should drive future revenue increases Software is difficult to replicate at scale and leads to a best-in-class gross margin of 92% Excellent operating margin of 20.3% highlights the efficiency of its business model Autodesk's stock price of $297.02 implies a valuation ratio of 9x forward price-to-sales. Is now the time to initiate a position? See for yourself in our comprehensive research report, it's free. Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election sent major indices to all-time highs, but stocks have retraced as investors debate the health of the economy and the potential impact of tariffs. While this leaves much uncertainty around 2025, a few companies are poised for long-term gains regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate, like our Top 5 Strong Momentum Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
2 Growth Stocks to Stash and 1 to Question
Growth is a hallmark of all great companies, but the laws of gravity eventually take hold. Those who rode the COVID boom and ensuing tech selloff in 2022 will surely remember that the market's punishment can be swift and severe when trajectories fall. Deciphering which businesses can sustain their high growth rates is a challenge for even the most seasoned professionals, which is why we started StockStory. On that note, here are two growth stocks expanding their competitive advantages and one climbing an uphill battle. One-Year Revenue Growth: +25.3% Founded in 2009 by enterprise software veteran Tom Seibel, (NYSE:AI) provides software that makes it easy for organizations to add artificial intelligence technology to their applications. Why Does AI Fall Short? 15.5% annual revenue growth over the last three years was slower than its software peers Extended payback periods on sales investments suggest the company's platform isn't resonating enough to drive efficient sales conversions Historical operating margin losses point to an inefficient cost structure stock price of $25.72 implies a valuation ratio of 7.4x forward price-to-sales. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than AI. One-Year Revenue Growth: +32.3% Founded in 2014 and named after the dreaded first day of the work week, (NASDAQ:MNDY) is a software-as-a-service platform that helps organizations plan and track work efficiently. Why Is MNDY a Good Business? ARR trends over the last year show it's maintaining a steady flow of long-term contracts that contribute positively to its revenue predictability Software is difficult to replicate at scale and results in a best-in-class gross margin of 89.5% Strong free cash flow margin of 30.4% enables it to reinvest or return capital consistently is trading at $305 per share, or 12.7x forward price-to-sales. Is now a good time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it's free. One-Year Revenue Growth: +20% 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. Why Should DOCS Be on Your Watchlist? Billings have averaged 23.5% growth over the last year, showing it's securing new contracts that could potentially increase in value over time Well-designed software integrates seamlessly with other workflows, enabling swift payback periods on marketing expenses and customer growth at scale DOCS is a free cash flow machine with the flexibility to invest in growth initiatives or return capital to shareholders At $58.44 per share, Doximity trades at 19x forward price-to-sales. Is now the right time to buy? See for yourself in our comprehensive research report, it's free. Market indices reached historic highs following Donald Trump's presidential victory in November 2024, but the outlook for 2025 is clouded by new trade policies that could impact business confidence and growth. While this has caused many investors to adopt a "fearful" wait-and-see approach, we're leaning into our best ideas that can grow regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Take advantage of Mr. Market by checking out our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
2 Growth Stocks to Stash and 1 to Question
Growth is a hallmark of all great companies, but the laws of gravity eventually take hold. Those who rode the COVID boom and ensuing tech selloff in 2022 will surely remember that the market's punishment can be swift and severe when trajectories fall. Deciphering which businesses can sustain their high growth rates is a challenge for even the most seasoned professionals, which is why we started StockStory. On that note, here are two growth stocks expanding their competitive advantages and one climbing an uphill battle. One-Year Revenue Growth: +25.3% Founded in 2009 by enterprise software veteran Tom Seibel, (NYSE:AI) provides software that makes it easy for organizations to add artificial intelligence technology to their applications. Why Does AI Fall Short? 15.5% annual revenue growth over the last three years was slower than its software peers Extended payback periods on sales investments suggest the company's platform isn't resonating enough to drive efficient sales conversions Historical operating margin losses point to an inefficient cost structure stock price of $25.72 implies a valuation ratio of 7.4x forward price-to-sales. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than AI. One-Year Revenue Growth: +32.3% Founded in 2014 and named after the dreaded first day of the work week, (NASDAQ:MNDY) is a software-as-a-service platform that helps organizations plan and track work efficiently. Why Is MNDY a Good Business? ARR trends over the last year show it's maintaining a steady flow of long-term contracts that contribute positively to its revenue predictability Software is difficult to replicate at scale and results in a best-in-class gross margin of 89.5% Strong free cash flow margin of 30.4% enables it to reinvest or return capital consistently is trading at $305 per share, or 12.7x forward price-to-sales. Is now a good time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it's free. One-Year Revenue Growth: +20% 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. Why Should DOCS Be on Your Watchlist? Billings have averaged 23.5% growth over the last year, showing it's securing new contracts that could potentially increase in value over time Well-designed software integrates seamlessly with other workflows, enabling swift payback periods on marketing expenses and customer growth at scale DOCS is a free cash flow machine with the flexibility to invest in growth initiatives or return capital to shareholders At $58.44 per share, Doximity trades at 19x forward price-to-sales. Is now the right time to buy? See for yourself in our comprehensive research report, it's free. Market indices reached historic highs following Donald Trump's presidential victory in November 2024, but the outlook for 2025 is clouded by new trade policies that could impact business confidence and growth. While this has caused many investors to adopt a "fearful" wait-and-see approach, we're leaning into our best ideas that can grow regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Take advantage of Mr. Market by checking out our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Q1 Earnings: Leading The Data Infrastructure Pack
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 Q1. Today, we are looking at data infrastructure stocks, starting with Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT). 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 satisfactory Q1. As a group, revenues beat analysts' consensus estimates by 0.8% while next quarter's revenue guidance was 1.1% below. In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 2.4% on average since the latest earnings results. 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 $271.1 million, up 24.8% year on year. This print exceeded analysts' expectations by 2.6%. Overall, it was a strong quarter for the company with EPS guidance for next quarter exceeding analysts' expectations and a solid beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates. 'Confluent started the year with solid momentum, achieving subscription revenue growth of 26% year over year,' said Jay Kreps, co-founder and CEO, Confluent. Confluent scored the biggest analyst estimates beat but had the weakest full-year guidance update of the whole group. The results were likely priced in, however, and the stock is flat since reporting. It currently trades at $23.85. Is now the time to buy Confluent? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Founded in 2009 by enterprise software veteran Tom Seibel, (NYSE:AI) provides software that makes it easy for organizations to add artificial intelligence technology to their applications. reported revenues of $108.7 million, up 25.6% year on year, outperforming analysts' expectations by 0.8%. The business had a strong quarter with an impressive beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates and a narrow beat of analysts' billings estimates. pulled off the fastest revenue growth and highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 13.9% since reporting. It currently trades at $26.25. Is now the time to buy Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. 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 and analyze their data across multiple storages. Teradata reported revenues of $418 million, down 10.1% year on year, falling short of analysts' expectations by 2.4%. It was a slower quarter as it posted EPS and revenue guidance for next quarter slightly missing analysts' expectations. Teradata delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth in the group. Interestingly, the stock is up 1.7% since the results and currently trades at $22.33. Read our full analysis of Teradata's results here. 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 $388.4 million, up 16% year on year. This result beat analysts' expectations by 2.1%. Taking a step back, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also produced accelerating customer growth. The company added 50 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to reach a total of 1,510. The stock is down 6.6% since reporting and currently trades at $85.88. Read our full, actionable report on Elastic here, it's free. Thanks to the Fed's rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, inflation has been on a steady path downward, easing back toward that 2% sweet spot. Fortunately (miraculously to some), all this tightening didn't send the economy tumbling into a recession, so here we are, cautiously celebrating a soft landing. The cherry on top? Recent rate cuts (half a point in September 2024, a quarter in November) have propped up markets, especially after Trump's November win lit a fire under major indices and sent them to all-time highs. However, there's still plenty to ponder — tariffs, corporate tax cuts, and what 2025 might hold for the economy. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our 9 Best Market-Beating Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
C3.ai's (NYSE:AI) Q1 Sales Top Estimates, Stock Jumps 15.1%
Artificial intelligence (AI) software company (NYSE:AI) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q1 CY2025, with sales up 25.6% year on year to $108.7 million. The company expects next quarter's revenue to be around $104.5 million, close to analysts' estimates. Its non-GAAP loss of $0.60 per share was significantly below analysts' consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy Find out in our full research report. Revenue: $108.7 million vs analyst estimates of $107.9 million (25.6% year-on-year growth, 0.8% beat) Adjusted EPS: -$0.60 vs analyst estimates of -$0.20 (significant miss) Adjusted Operating Income: -$31.17 million vs analyst estimates of -$35.18 million (-28.7% margin, 11.4% beat) Revenue Guidance for Q2 CY2025 is $104.5 million at the midpoint, roughly in line with what analysts were expecting Adjusted Operating Loss Guidance for Q2 CY2025 is -$28.5 million at the midpoint, better than expectations of -$35.2 million Operating Margin: -81.8%, up from -95.1% in the same quarter last year Free Cash Flow was $10.33 million, up from -$22.38 million in the previous quarter Market Capitalization: $3.18 billion Founded in 2009 by enterprise software veteran Tom Seibel, (NYSE:AI) provides software that makes it easy for organizations to add artificial intelligence technology to their applications. A company's long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last three years, grew its sales at a 15.5% compounded annual growth rate. Although this growth is acceptable on an absolute basis, it fell slightly short of our standards for the software sector, which enjoys a number of secular tailwinds. This quarter, reported robust year-on-year revenue growth of 25.6%, and its $108.7 million of revenue topped Wall Street estimates by 0.8%. Company management is currently guiding for a 19.8% year-on-year increase in sales next quarter. Looking further ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 17.9% over the next 12 months, an acceleration versus the last three years. This projection is admirable and implies its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance. Software is eating the world and there is virtually no industry left that has been untouched by it. That drives increasing demand for tools helping software developers do their jobs, whether it be monitoring critical cloud infrastructure, integrating audio and video functionality, or ensuring smooth content streaming. Click here to access a free report on our 3 favorite stocks to play this generational megatrend. The customer acquisition cost (CAC) payback period measures the months a company needs to recoup the money spent on acquiring a new customer. This metric helps assess how quickly a business can break even on its sales and marketing investments. It's very expensive for to acquire new customers as its CAC payback period checked in at 159.6 months this quarter. The company's slow recovery of its sales and marketing expenses indicates it operates in a highly competitive market and must invest to stand out, even if the return on that investment is low. Revenue and adjusted operating income both beat in the quarter. Looking forward, revenue guidance for next quarter was roughly in line with Wall Street's estimates, but operating income guidance for the period was nicely above expectations. Finally, "C3 AI and Baker Hughes renewed and expanded their strategic partnership through a multi-year agreement", and this is a relief to the market as it is the largest partnership for the software company. Overall, this was a solid quarter. The stock traded up 15.1% to $26.51 immediately following the results. Is an attractive investment opportunity at the current price? We think that the latest quarter is just one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it's free.
