UPDATED 21:02 EDT / FEBRUARY 27 2018

APPS

Workday’s push into financial software pays off as earnings top estimates

Software-as-a-service company Workday Inc. saw its share price slide late Tuesday despite announcing fourth-quarter earnings that easily beat market estimates.

The company reported a profit after certain costs such as stock compensation of 28 cents per share on revenue of $582.5 million, up from a 16-cent profit on sales of $437 million a year ago. It also surpassed Wall Street’s estimates of 21 cents per share in earnings on revenue of $574 million.

Workday’s subscription revenue also grew nicely, rising by 34 percent from one year ago to $490 million for the period ending Jan. 31.

But although the numbers were encouraging, Workday’s shareholders were clearly expecting greater things from a company that has often outpaced topline expectations. The company’s share price dipped just over 3 percent in after-hours trading. However, Workday shares remain 26 percent up since the start of this year.

In recent months, Workday has moved beyond selling human capital management products into the financial software space in an effort to fuel more growth. Aneel Bhusri, Workday’s chief executive officer (pictured), said in a conference call that these efforts were paying off.

“Q4 was a great close to a very successful year,” Bhusri said. “We delivered the best quarter to date for Workday Financial Management that included two new Fortune 500 customers, and extended our leadership in HR — now having over 175 of the Fortune 500 as Workday HCM customers.”

Image: Aneel Bhusri/Twitter

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