In what was anticipated as a triumphant quarterly earnings report, Monday.com, the Israeli software company, officially reached an annual revenue run rate of $1 billion. However, the day turned into a tumultuous one for the company's stock. The decline started as soon as the third-quarter financials were released before Wall Street's opening bell, plummeting a staggering 20% by evening. Despite the reports meeting expectations and not differing significantly from the previous quarter – which had spurred a 30% rally in Monday's shares to a $16 billion valuation by Friday – the stock retraced to a $13 billion valuation, still twice its IPO value in 2021.
Eran Zinman, co-founder and co-CEO of Monday, attempted to rationalize the stock's behavior. "We can't control market expectations, which have risen significantly in recent months, and we didn't understand the sharp increase even then. In terms of performance, everything is unfolding according to our plans, but perhaps the market expected us to exceed forecasts even more," he said.
Zinman's explanation appears plausible, especially given similar reactions to generally strong earnings reports, as seen with CheckPoint and Teva, which realized after good reports. With markets hovering at historical highs and Monday trading at one of the industry's highest earnings multiples, investor anxiety and volatility are not unexpected.
A contributing factor in Monday's case was the lack of prior communication regarding the $24 million allocation to Monday's philanthropic fund. Although the fund was established many years ago to be funded through regular transfers of Monday shares, this marked the first post-IPO conversion and realization of 68,000 shares accumulated in the fund. The last allocation to the fund was $7 million during the public offering on Wall Street. This allocation, recorded under "management and general" expenses, doubled the amount and reverted the company to an operating loss after previously achieving significant operating profits.
Monday explained that, until now, there was no need for realization and allocation because the fund was financed from its IPO proceeds. The fund's two primary activities include deploying Monday's project management software in disaster areas, such as floods and earthquakes. In this context, Monday assisted in locating and rescuing residents in the Gaza border region after the October 7 attack, with its software acting as a general operating system for coordinating volunteer activities. The second activity involves technological schools aimed at connecting peripheral children to the high-tech industry in Israel and abroad.
Despite investors being briefed on the allocation, the stock continued its nosedive, likely due to inflated expectations and a somewhat weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter forecast from Monday. The company now anticipates revenues of $260-$262 million in the current quarter, reflecting a "mere" 28% growth rate, following a 33% growth in the third quarter with revenues of $251 million. The surprise operating loss was $27.4 million compared to a $2.5 million loss in the corresponding quarter. However, excluding one-time and accounting items, Monday posted an operating profit of $32 million and maintained a gross margin of 90% and an operating profit margin of 13%, consistent with previous quarters.
Net income reached $45 million, up from $33 million in the same period last year, and free cash flow remained robust at $82.4 million. Although Monday raised its annual forecast, the market seemingly anticipated more than just a few million-dollar increments. The company now projects annual revenues of $964-$966 million in 2024, with free cash flow expected to reach $290 million. There is a slight slowdown in the free cash flow forecast for Q4 to $63-$66 million, attributed to the seasonal impact of bonus payments to sales personnel.
Adding to the uncertainty emanating from Monday's reports was the unexpected announcement of the resignation of Yoni Oshrov, the company's Chief Revenue Officer. Concurrently, Adi Dar was appointed as Chief Operating Officer, a new role. "Yoni joined seven years ago when sales were $10 million and catapulted them to a billion dollars," Zinman explained, adding that "he felt he had reached fulfillment, and we are searching for his replacement. The search is being conducted abroad, it will now be a global function, and the idea is to continue Monday's expansion into larger organizations."
Zinman says that Dar, (founder of Cyberbit, a cybersecurity company that was part of Elbit Systems, and who also managed El-Op), brings extensive experience in both operations and sales. Unlike in the past, this time the market chose to overlook the positive data characterizing Monday's customer mix, with a 111% customer retention rate and continuous growth in large customer activity. The number of customers paying Monday more than $100,000 annually surged by 44%, and the second-largest customer, a global technology company, more than doubled its users of Monday's solutions from 25,000 to 60,000 within a year.
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