Out on Wall Street, Alteryx (AYX) kicked off the week of trading with a bang. On Monday, the data analytics software company hiked up its revenue guidance for the third quarter and changed up its management team. In reaction, investors sent AYX stock up nearly 28% in Tuesday’s trading session.
The company is now guiding for between $126-$128 million in quarterly revenue, which would reflect a 22%-24% year-over-year increase. This new guidance is significantly higher than AYX’s original $111-$115 million forecast, and above the Street’s $114 million call.
Weighing in on the development for Wedbush, 5-star analyst Daniel Ives told clients, “This was an eye-popping Stanton-like performance and a major bounce back from a soft Q2 and puts AYX back on track heading into FY21 with improved execution a sigh of relief for the bulls.”
Based on Ives’ calculations, the new guidance would put Q3 EPS at $0.18-$0.19, above his and the consensus estimate of $0.12. It would also provide relief for shares after Q2 saw revenue growth decelerate to 17% year-over-year, from 43% year-over-year in Q1, as a result of a significant COVID-19-related slowdown that affected expansion activity with Enterprise and Global 2K customers, in the analyst’s opinion.
On top of this, AYX unveiled the new CEO, appointing industry veteran and current board member Mark Anderson, who will succeed Co-founder and Chairman Dean Stoecker. Stoecker was appointed as Executive Chairman and will continue serving as Chairman of the Board. In response to both news items, shares surged 30% in after-hours trading.
According to Ives, this move “should reassure AYX bulls as Anderson’s expertise and track record with scaling enterprise software organizations, most recently with Palo Alto Networks, keeps the company in good hands on its march towards $1 billion in revenue.”
Expounding on this, the analyst stated, “This quarter speaks volumes and along with Anderson at the helm should give investors a major vote of confidence in this growth story over the next 12 to 18 months. AYX is well positioned to capture major share in the nearly ~$50 billion analytics, business intelligence, and data preparation market with its code-friendly end-to-end data prep and analytics platform with tonight’s news a big step forward.”
All of this convinced Ives to reiterate his Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating. (To watch Ives’ track record, click here)
Oppenheimer’s Ittai Kidron also sees the appointment as a major positive. “Mr. Anderson brings extensive and proven experience leading the sales organizations at Palo Alto and F5 and has served as a board member at Alteryx. While Mr. Stoecker’s departure could weigh on investor sentiment, we believe Mr. Anderson brings the right DNA and track record needed to evolve Alteryx’s sales organization as the company evolves from a product-focused company (Designer) to a platform-based company (APA),” the 5-star analyst explained.
To this end, Kidron continues to put an Outperform rating and $180 price target on the stock. Investors could be pocketing a gain of 24%, should this target be met in the twelve months ahead. (To watch Kidron’s track record, click here)
Where do other analysts stand on AYX? 7 Buys and 2 Holds have been issued in the last three months. Therefore, AYX gets a Strong Buy consensus rating. Given the $159.78 average price target, shares could rise 10% from current levels. (See Alteryx stock analysis on TipRanks)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
