Qualtrics Rallies on Beat and Raise, Analysts Positive By Investing.com

By Senad Karaahmetovic

Shares of Qualtrics (NASDAQ:) are up 13.45% in pre-open Tuesday after the company delivered better-than-expected Q3 results and raised its full-year forecast.

Qualtrics a profit per share of $0.04 on revenue of $377.5 million to beat the analyst estimate of a loss per share of $0.02 on revenue of $358.69 million. Subscription revenue was reported at $314.8 million, also higher than the estimate of $301.4 million.

For this quarter, XM expects adjusted EPS between $0.02 and $0.03 on revenue between $380 million and $382 million. Analysts were looking for a loss per share of $0.01 on revenue of $373.1 million. Subscription revenue is seen at $324 million (the midpoint), higher than the $318 million estimate.

The Q3 results and Q4 guidance beat prompted XM to raise its full-year forecast. The company is now expecting revenue between $1.45 billion and $1.452 billion, up from the prior range of $1.422-$1.426 billion. Adjusted EPS is seen between $0.04 and $0.05 while analysts were looking for a loss per share of $0.07.

Oppenheimer analysts said Q3 results “should support valuation,” while praising the company’s management for delivering in “a difficult operating environment and being disciplined on its investments to show continued good growth and operating margin improvement.”

“We think XM’s 4x EV/sales multiple for an anticipated high teen to 20% grower with profitable operating margin improvement versus 6x for the SaaS group average is too large a discount. Reiterate Outperform,” Schwartz said in a client note.

BMO analysts said XM delivered a “solid print.” Still, the analysts lowered billings estimates to reflect “weak macro,” ultimately pushing the price target lower to $13 per share.

“In the context of so much macro uncertainty, XM delivered a solid print, though not without some level of disappointment…. We retain our Outperform rating since we think the TAM holds compelling growth potential and XM is a clear leader in the category,” Bachman said.