As the Q1 earnings season wraps, let’s dig into this quarter’s best and worst performers in the finance and hr software industry, including Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ) and its peers.
Organizations are constantly looking to improve organizational efficiencies, whether it is financial planning, tax management or payroll. Finance and HR software benefit from the SaaS-ification of businesses, large and small, who much prefer the flexibility of cloud-based, web-browser delivered software paid for on a subscription basis than the hassle and expense of purchasing and managing on-premise enterprise software.
The 13 finance and hr software stocks we track reported a satisfactory Q1. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 1.4% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 1.1% below.
In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 4.5% on average since the latest earnings results.
Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ)
Founded by CEO Jason Gardner in 2009, Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ) is an innovative card issuer that provides companies with the ability to issue and process virtual, physical, and tokenized credit and debit cards.
Marqeta reported revenues of $139.1 million, up 17.9% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 2.4%. Overall, it was a strong quarter for the company with an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and a narrow beat of analysts’ total payment volume estimates.
Marqeta achieved the fastest revenue growth of the whole group. Unsurprisingly, the stock is up 28% since reporting and currently trades at $5.24.
Is now the time to buy Marqeta? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.
Best Q1: Flywire (NASDAQ: FLYW)
Originally created to process international tuition payments for universities, Flywire (NASDAQ: FLYW) is a cross border payments processor and software platform focusing on complex, high-value transactions like education, healthcare and B2B payments.
Flywire reported revenues of $133.5 million, up 17% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 5%. The business had a very strong quarter with a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and revenue guidance for next quarter meeting analysts’ expectations.
Flywire pulled off the biggest analyst estimates beat among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 6.1% since reporting. It currently trades at $10.66.
Is now the time to buy Flywire? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.
Weakest Q1: Global Business Travel (NYSE: GBTG)
Holding close ties to American Express, Global Business Travel (NYSE: GBTG) is a comprehensive travel and expense management services provider to corporations worldwide.
Global Business Travel reported revenues of $621 million, up 1.8% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 1.9%. It was a softer quarter as it posted full-year EBITDA guidance missing analysts’ expectations.
Global Business Travel delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and slowest revenue growth in the group. As expected, the stock is down 9.1% since the results and currently trades at $6.26.
Read our full analysis of Global Business Travel’s results here.
Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU)
Created in 1983 when founder Scott Cook watched his wife struggle to reconcile the family's checkbook, Intuit provides tax and accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses.
Intuit reported revenues of $7.75 billion, up 15.1% year on year. This number beat analysts’ expectations by 2.6%. Overall, it was a very strong quarter as it also produced full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations and a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.
Intuit pulled off the highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The stock is up 12.7% since reporting and currently trades at $750.46.
Read our full, actionable report on Intuit here, it’s free.
Workday (NASDAQ: WDAY)
Founded by industry veterans Aneel Bushri and Dave Duffield after their former company PeopleSoft was acquired by Oracle in a hostile takeover, Workday (NASDAQ: WDAY) provides cloud-based software for organizations to manage and plan finance and human resources.
Workday reported revenues of $2.24 billion, up 12.6% year on year. This result topped analysts’ expectations by 1%. Aside from that, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also recorded a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates but a significant miss of analysts’ billings estimates.
The stock is down 12% since reporting and currently trades at $239.43.
Read our full, actionable report on Workday here, it’s free.
Market Update
As a result of the Fed’s rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, inflation has come down from frothy levels post-pandemic. The general rise in the price of goods and services is trending towards the Fed’s 2% goal as of late, which is good news. The higher rates that fought inflation also didn't slow economic activity enough to catalyze a recession. So far, soft landing. This, combined with recent rate cuts (half a percent in September 2024 and a quarter percent in November 2024) have led to strong stock market performance in 2024. The icing on the cake for 2024 returns was Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. Presidential Election in early November, sending major indices to all-time highs in the week following the election. Still, debates around the health of the economy and the impact of potential tariffs and corporate tax cuts remain, leaving much uncertainty around 2025.
Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 6 Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.
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