Couchbase reports better-than-expected third quarter results

Database maker Couchbase Inc. today reported third quarter financial results that topped analyst expectations, as well as the company’s own guidance. 

Santa Clara, California-based Couchbase went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange last July. It provides a cloud-based NoSQL database called Capella that companies can use to store structured and unstructured information. Couchbase also sells two other database products: one is designed to run on-premises while the other can be embedded into mobile apps to store their information.

Capella is a NoSQL platform, but includes features that are most commonly offered by relational databases. Capella makes it possible to retrieve and modify data using the SQL query language. The platform also supports the ACID data reliability standard, which enables applications to change the records in a database without the risk of errors. 

Capella and Couchbase’s other offerings generated revenues of $38.6 million for the company in the third quarter ended Oct. 31. That represents a year-over-year increase of 25%. Thanks to the strong growth it logged during the quarter, Couchbase topped the Zacks consensus revenue estimate by 5.44%.

Couchbase’s sales momentum was driven to a large extent by subscription deals. The company reported that its subscription business grew 23% year-over-year, to $35.7 million, during the three months ended Oct. 31.

The value of Couchbase’s remaining performance obligations, a metric that tracks future revenue from existing customer contracts, reached $159.6 million in the third quarter. That represents an increase of 28% compared with the same time a year ago.

“We are proud to have delivered third quarter results ahead of all guidance metrics,” said Couchbase Chief Executive Officer Matt Cain. “We saw robust bookings growth, meaningful new Capella logo additions and a rapidly growing pipeline of exciting opportunities across both new and existing customers, and all of this despite a more challenging macroeconomic environment.”

Besides growing its top line, Couchbase also moved closer toward profitability during the third quarter. The company’s adjusted operating loss declined from $12.1 million a year earlier to $9.6 million. That amounted to an adjusted loss of $0.22, significantly less than the $0.33 per share loss analysts polled by Zacks had expected.

For the current quarter, Couchbase expects to report an adjusted operating loss of $14.8 million to $15 million on between $38.2 million and $38.4 million in revenue. The company estimates that it will end the fiscal year with annual revenues of $151.4 million to $151.6 million, up from $123.5 million 12 months earlier. 

Couchbase’s plans to continue its sales momentum encompass an expanded partnership with Amazon Web Services Inc. that was announced last Thursday. According to the companies, the partnership will “support Couchbase with scale and reach in its objective to further expand into key verticals.”

The collaboration also has several other components. AWS and Couchbase will carry out joint go-to-market activities, as well as offer commercial incentives and technology integrations to customers.

As part of the collaboration, Couchbase will enable companies to run its recently released Capella App Services offering on AWS edge computing services. Introduced in June, Capella App Services makes it easier to sync information between a company’s mobile apps and its cloud-based database environment. The offering promises to speed up app development for software teams. 

Photo: Couchbase