Shares in DevOps platform provider GitLab Inc. pulled back in extended trading today following its first-ever results as a publicly traded company.

GitLab didn’t do too badly, reporting a third-quarter loss before certain costs such as stock compensation of $32.5 million, or 34 cents per share. Its revenue came to $66.8 million, up 58% from one year ago.

The results were better than expected, with Wall Street looking for a bigger loss of 48 cents per share on sales of $59.42 million.

The report was the company’s first since its public debut in October. GitLab’s stock popped following its initial public offering, ending the first day of trading with a gain of more than 35%. However, the market seems to have gotten over its initial excitement, with GitLab’s stock losing 30% of its value since those heady days. Today, the stock fell by 7% in the hours following its first earnings call.

GitLab sells development and collaboration tools that help developers to share code and create new applications faster. It’s viewed as one of the pioneers of DevOps, enabling companies to adopt a modern strategy of rapid, continuous software updates.

GitLab Chief Executive Sid Sijbrandij (pictured) said the company was seeing “viral adoption” of its DevOps Platform as customers begin using it for their immediate needs, then grow to rely on more of its capabilities over time. “This enables them to quickly modernize their software development to meet the demands of digital acceleration,” he said.

GitLab offered some numbers to back up those claims of viral adoption. For instance, customers that provide at least $50,000 in annual recurring revenue grew by 66% from a year ago, to 4,057. Meanwhile, those that deliver at least $100,000 in ARR jumped by 73%, to 423.

Investors may wondering about the cost of those customer acquisitions, as GitLab’s operational losses during the quarter increased by 8% from a year ago.

“GitLab is riding the wave for more and better software supply chain management, all to achieve higher development velocity,” said analyst Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. “The vendor is showing impressive growth and sees a lot of demand – the only challenge is – revenues are growing slower that costs. Management has to show that it can put the vendor on a sustainable path – and either grow revenue faster or rein in those costs.”

Looking to the fourth quarter, GitLab offered a revenue forecast of $69.5 million to $70.5 million, well ahead of Wall Street’s estimate of $63.92 million.

Photo: SiliconANGLE