Anaplan delivers mixed results: a smaller-than-expected loss on lower revenue

Anaplan Inc. delivered a mixed bag of fiscal fourth-quarter results today, beating estimates on earnings but missing on revenue.

Even so, its stock stayed flat in after-hours trading, having gained amid a wider run up in the Nasdaq index earlier in the day.

The company reported a net loss of $42.04 million, amounting to a loss of seven cents per share. Revenue for the period rose 25% from a year ago, to $122.5 million. Wall Street was looking for a bigger loss of 11 cents per share, albeit on higher sales of $154.71 million. Anaplan’s full fiscal 2021 revenue rose 29% from fiscal 2020, to $447.8 million.

Anaplan Chief Executive Frank Calderoni (pictured) said the company delivered solid execution in fiscal 2021 and saw steady new customer growth in the final quarter. “We are seeing a rising demand for rapid scenario-based planning as our customers are looking for the best way to plan for an uncertain and unpredictable future,” he said.

When it comes to business planning, there are few that compete with Anaplan. The company sells an enterprise platform that’s versatile enough for all kinds of business planning purposes. Its offering is centered on an in-memory database and calculation engine called HyperBlock that enables customers to organize and analyze disparate sets of data quickly from finance, human resources, sales and other business operations.

One key advantage of Anaplan’s platform, which is available on Amazon Web Services Inc.’s public cloud, as well as Google Cloud, is its Excel-style functionality, which helps make it more accessible to ordinary business workers. The software includes modules to help make data-driven decisions in key areas such as budgeting, demand, quota and workforce planning, planning and forecasting, commission calculation, financial consolidation and profitability modeling, for example.

Demand for Anaplan’s software appears to be fairly solid, if the company’s growth metrics are any indication. For one, Anaplan said, its fourth-quarter subscription revenue came to $112.6 million, up 26%.

Meanwhile, its remaining performance obligation grew by 25% from a year ago to $818 million. RPO represents the total future performance obligations arising from contractual relationships. In other words, it’s the sum of the invoice amount and future amounts not yet invoiced for contracts with customers.

Anaplan also reported a dollar-based net expansion rate of 114%, representing the percentage of business it has been able to keep and expand over the last year.

Positive growth aside, Anaplan’s outlook for the next quarter and full year was somewhat less encouraging. For the first quarter of fiscal 2022, Anaplan is expecting revenue of between $126.5 and $127.5 million, which is some way off Wall Street’s forecast of $163.47 million.

Anaplan did at least update its fiscal 2022 guidance, saying it now expects total revenue for the year of $550 million to $555 million, up from a previous range of $545 million to $550 million.

Photo: Anaplan