Business automation software firm Appian delivers strong earnings beat and its stock rises

Business process automation firm Appian Corp. made strong gains today, its stock rising more than 12% in after-hours trading following a solid earnings and revenue beat.

The company reported a fourth quarter net loss of $25.8 million, compared to a net loss of $9.6 million one year ago. However, the company’s loss before certain costs such as stock compensation came to 16 cents per share, with revenue coming to $105 million, up 29% from a year ago.

The performance was better than expected, with Wall Street looking for a wider loss of 23 cents per share on revenue of just $95.3 million.

For the full year, Appian reported a net loss of $88.6 million, with revenue coming to $369.3 million.

Appian Founder and Chief Executive Matt Calkins (pictured) said the company is poised to do well as it enters its new fiscal year. “We enter 2022 with an accelerating business, a unified low-code platform, a growing ecosystem, and happy customers,” he said.

Appian sells a low-code business process automation platform that makes it easy for office workers to automate complex processes. They can also use the platform to create custom applications that can be deployed on any devices. It also has social collaboration features, enabling users to connect with other team members to collaborate on projects, and features pre-built connectors that allow it to integrate easily with multiple third-party apps.

Its ease of use is highly appreciated by users and helps to explain the company’s growth. Appian reported strong revenue increases across the board, with cloud subscription sales rising to $51.2 million in the quarter, up 39% from a year ago. Its total subscription revenue, which includes sales of software-as-a-service subscriptions, on-premises term licenses and maintenance and support, rose 35% to $75.8 million.

Appian also reported professional services revenue of $29.2 million, up from $25.5 million a year ago.

Looking to the first quarter, Appian said it expects revenue of between $106 million and $108 million, ahead of Wall Street’s forecast of $102.7 million. For the full year, Appian said it’s looking at total sales of between $444 million and $446 million, versus the consensus forecast of 424.2 million.

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