Guidance by electronic-signature firm DocuSign was above previous estimates, but showed growth moderation.
Courtesy DocuSign
DocuSign stock is lower in late trading Thursday, despite the company reporting better-than-expected results for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31.
For the quarter, the electronic-signature company posted revenue of $430.9 million, up 57% from a year ago, and ahead of the Street consensus estimate for $407.7 million. Billings were $534.9 million, up 46%. Subscription revenue was $410.2 million, up 59%.
On a non-GAAP basis, DocuSign (ticker: DOCU) earned 37 cents a share, ahead of the Street estimate for 22 cents. DocuSign posted a GAAP loss of $72.4 million, or 38 cents a share. For the full year, the company had revenue of $1.5 billion, up 49%.
Guidance was above previous Street estimates, but nonetheless shows expected growth moderation in the new fiscal year. For the April quarter, DocuSign sees revenue of $432 million to $436 million, ahead of the Street at $419 million. For the full year ending January 2022, DocuSign sees revenue of $1.963 billion to $1.973 billion, above the Street estimate for $1.89 billion. At the midpoint of the range, the company is projecting growth of about 31%.
DocuSign CEO Dan Springer said in an interview with Barron’s that he was “super pleased to have those kinds of growth numbers,” pointing out that by the end of the current year the company will have doubled its business in two years.
Springer notes that the pandemic accelerated the growth of the business, in part from new or expanded use cases for digital signatures, such as for telehealth. Springer thinks it would be a reasonable guess that the company saw 10 extra percentage points of growth as a result of business driven by shifting work requirements in the face of Covid-19. While he concedes that some investors might have questions about the sustainability of the company’s growth, Springer says that the company’s core e-signature business “will grow at a good clip for years to come.”
In late trading, DocuSign stock is off 3.7%, to $217; in Thursday’s regular session, the stock had rallied 5.9%, to $225.22.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
