What happened
Shares of work-collaboration software company Asana (ASAN 5.67%) skyrocketed on Thursday after the company reported strong financial results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2023. As of 11:30 a.m. ET, Asana stock was up 22% and has now doubled in value from the all-time low it touched earlier this year.
Now what
In its fiscal Q4, which ended Jan. 31, Asana generated revenue of over $150 million, up 34% year over year and ahead of management's guidance of $144 million to $146 million. Kudos to DA Davidson analyst Robert Simmons, who read the tea leaves correctly on this stock last week when he said he believed third-party data was pointing to a strong quarter for the company.
NYSE: ASAN
Key Data Points
In the quarter, Asana added 732 net new customers spending at least $5,000 annually. It also added 13 net new customers spending at least $100,000 annually. And the company ended the quarter with these customer cohorts up 26% and 49% year over year, respectively.
On an adjusted basis, Asana's bottom line improved as well. Management had braced investors for the possibility of a $60 million operating loss. But its non-GAAP operating loss was just $37.4 million, much better than its non-GAAP operating loss of $43.9 million in the same quarter of last year.
In response to the better-than-expected revenue growth and smaller-than-expected losses, the market bid up Asana stock Thursday morning.
Now what
For its fiscal 2024, Asana's management forecasts revenue of up to $648 million, which would amount to 18% growth. That would be a meaningful slowdown from its 45% growth in fiscal 2023. And that could cause some growth investors to lose interest in the stock.
However, there are still Asana bulls, and perhaps no one is more bullish than co-founder and CEO Dustin Moskovitz, who announced that he's buying 30 million shares of Asana stock -- an investment of roughly $650 million at the current price. "I'm doing this because I personally believe Asana shares are undervalued, given the scale of the opportunity I see in front of us," Moskovitz said on the earnings conference call.
