Jennifer Harris
Analyst · JPMorgan. Your line is open
Thanks, Matt. We’re pleased to have delivered fourth quarter revenue that exceeded our guidance, combined with another quarter of solid gross margin improvements. I will briefly review our results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2015 before finishing with updated guidance for the first quarter and full-year 2016. Total revenue for the fourth quarter was $30.4 million, an increase of 37% year-over-year, and up 9% from the previous quarter. Revenue for the full-year 2015 was $108.9 million, up 38% year-over-year. Our increased revenue in the fourth quarter was principally the result of strong growth in subscription revenue. Subscription revenue benefited from both organic user growth as – from existing customers, as well as new customer go live in the quarter. Transaction-based revenue increased in actual dollars and represented 19% of total revenue in the fourth quarter. For the full-year 2015, transaction revenue represented 20% of total revenue, down from 23% in 2014. Our revenue churn for the full-year 2015 was 3.5%, down from 4.8% in 2014, and well below our goal of 5%. We continue to see strong growth within our existing customer base, as they expand their use of our platform. Organic user growth and cross sales of additional products to existing customers combined with a low revenue churn contributed to a 122% trailing 12-month revenue retention rate for 2015, consistent with a 122% we posted in 2014. As a reminder, this metric compares revenue of installed customers at the end of the previous year with the revenue from that same group of customers at the end of the current year. It therefore measures the growth of our business within customers existing at the end of the prior year net of attrition. We believe, revenue retention speaks to the success of our customers and Q2’s ability to grow revenue from our existing customers over time. As we turn to gross margin and operating expenses, please note that unless otherwise stated all references to our expenses and operating results are on a non-GAAP basis. Gross margin was 48.4%, up from 42.8% in the fourth quarter of 2014, and up from 47.7% in the previous quarter. The year-over-year improvement was primarily attributable to growth in subscription revenue and increased productivity of headcount in data center investments. For the full-year 2015, gross margin was 47.3%, up sharply from 42.6% in 2014. And as expected, the lower costs as a result of the Centrix acquisition contributed to the year-over-year and sequential gross margin improvements. We continue to invest in implementations personnel to support our success within the Tier 1 space, including the two new Tier 1 deals signed in the fourth quarter. Given the investment and headcount in the first quarter of the year to support that annual growth, I expect gross margins to be relatively flat in the first quarter of 2016, before contributing solid improvements in the second-half of 2016. As we’ve stated since going public, we remain committed to delivering annual improvements in gross margin. Turning to operating expenses, we continue to invest in our business and added headcount in focus areas, including our sales force, product development, and implementation teams. Total operating expenses were $18.3 million, up 44% from one year ago, and up 7% from the previous quarter. We ended the year with 658 employees, up from 501 at the end of 2014. Sales and marketing expenses were $6.6 million, up 17% year-over-year, and up 6% sequentially. Both the year-over-year and sequential increase were primarily due to investments in headcount. Research and development spending was $6.1 million, up 88% year-over-year and up 7% from the previous quarter. The increased R&D spending year-over-year and sequentially reflects increased headcount to support an accelerated product roadmap. The year-over-year increase also included a shift of resources from customer support and implementations activities to forward software development. Thereby reducing the allocation of engineering resources classified as cost of sales and increasing the research and development operating expenses. The acquisition of Social Money contributed modestly to the sequential increase, as we added five developers in December. General and administrative expenses were $5.5 million, up 47% from a year ago and 10% from the prior quarter. The sequential increase was driven by an increase in the annual bonus accrual based on overachievement on company objectives, select hiring, an increase in professional services, and the acquisition of Social Money. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $1.9 million, an improvement from negative $2.2 million in both the previous quarter and the year ago period. The improvement was driven primarily by the higher than anticipated revenues, partially offset by the addition of headcount from the Social Money acquisition and the higher G&A spending, mentioned previously. Adjusted EBITDA for the year was negative $8.1 million, a 22% improvement from negative $10.4 million in 2014. We ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and investments of $110.6 million, down from a $119.9 million at the end of the third quarter. Cash flow from operations for the fourth quarter was a record $5 million. The company incurred net capital expenditures of $3.6 million during the quarter and approximately $8 million related to the previously announced acquisition of Social Money. For the full-year of 2015, we generated positive operating cash flow of $5.4 million, a significant improvement from negative $5.3 million for the full-year 2014, and well ahead of plan. Our deferred revenue on December 31 was $52.2 million, up from $49.9 million in the third quarter. The increase in deferred revenue reflects customer deposits collected during the quarter, partially offset by revenue recognized during the quarter for services engagement. Let me wrap up by sharing our first quarter and full-year 2016 guidance. We forecast first quarter revenue in the range of $32.7 million to $33.3 million, and full-year revenue in the range of $144.5 million to $146.5 million, representing 33% to 35% year-over-year revenue growth. We forecast first quarter adjusted EBITDA of negative $2.7 million, the negative $3.2 million, and negative $3.5 million to negative $5 million for the full-year 2016. We expect headcount addition, seasonal factors, including payroll taxes associated with annual bonus payment and our Annual Customer Conference held during the second quarter to impact the pace of improvement in the first-half of 2016. But we expect to deliver positive adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter. In summary, 2015 was another strong year of continued execution, as the company delivered strong top line growth, record gross margin, and positive operating cash flow, while continuing to invest in key initiatives, which position the company for continued success in 2016. With that, let me turn it back over to Matt for his closing remarks.