Coupa’s Downside Guidance Overshadows Strong Q4

Corporate spend management technology company Coupa has released its fourth quarter earnings performance and full year for FY2019, pointing to Q4 as “the strongest quarter yet in our company’s history,” according to Chief Executive Officer Rob Bernshteyn.

The company posted a 42 percent increase in subscription revenue growth year-over-year, with non-GAAP earnings of 18 cents per share.

“Heading into fiscal 2020, our powerful combination of innovation, execution and core values that are centered around ensuring customer success will enable us to extend our leadership position in business spend management,” said Bernshteyn in a statement announcing the results on Monday (March 11).

Total revenues were pegged at $74.9 million for the quarter, a 39 percent increase to the same period a year prior, with subscription revenues up by 45 percent to $67.5 million.

Yet the company posted a $14.7 million GAAP operating loss (compared to $9.1 million for the same period last year), with net losses at $16.6 million (up from $8.7 million a year prior).

The company told shareholders it expects share prices to decline by between 3 and 6 cents for Q1, missing analyst expectations that had forecast a 1 percent increase in share price. While Coupa predicts revenue at $74 million by the middle of the year, compared to analyst expectations of $70.3 million, Coupa shares declined during trading on Tuesday (March 12), according to reports in The Street.

During the fourth quarter Coupa added a slew of new customers including KPMG Australia, Guardian Industries, Pacific Life Insurance and Shopify, and it also enhanced its business spend management platform with new functionality powered by artificial intelligence. The company also struck a partnership with JPMorgan after launching Coupa Pay to strengthen its position in the B2B payments space and enabling the company to link its business customers to virtual cards for supplier payments.

The quarter also saw the acquisition of third-party risk management firm Hiperos, a division of Opus.