QlikTech jumps 18% after earnings announcement; Europe concerns remain

Tom Paine

Radnor-based BI software vendor QlikTech saw its shares jump 18% today after announcing its 2nd quarter earnings yesterday afternoon. The increase probably was due to the fact that QlikTech got most of the bad news out of the way earlier this month when it lowered its forecast for the quarter, and that its outlook for the second half of 2012 looks somewhat stronger.

Revenue rose 16% to $85.8 million, while the GAAP net loss was $2 million, down from $2.7 million a year ago. The company said revenue grew 24% year-over-year on a constant currency basis. During its earnings conference call, QlikTech CEO Lars Björk pinned the bulk of the slowdown on Europe, which accounts for 57% of total revenue. On a constant currency basis, revenue from Europe increased 20% over the prior year period, compared to 30% in the Americas and 32% from the rest of the world. Management cited an "abrupt" change in European purchasing behavior in the last two weeks of the quarter. Björk said he saw little change in competitive or pricing pressures.

QlikTech now has 26,000 customers, and employment continues to grow as the company now has 1306 employees, a 35% increase from one year ago. QlikTech says its plan is to continue hiring (as you can see on the company's job board here), although in response to a question later in the conference call Björk did say that a slower hiring pace is something that might be considered. Initiatives highlighted included QlikTech' acquisition of Expressor Software (no numbers given), the development of QlikMarket (its third-party app marketplace) and QlikTech' joining Google's Cloud Platform partner program. I sensed a little uncertainty or cautiousness in Björk's comments on QlikMarket although he says the launch is still planned for this year, and CFO Bill Sorenson said they hadn't seen too much demand for BI in the Cloud, which may make one wonder how important the Google Cloud partnership is for QlikTech. Björk also mentioned QlikTech's expanding partnership with Deloitte Consulting. Although QlikTech says more of its revenue is coming from larger accounts, it said it closed 86 deals in excess of $100,000 versus 104 in the quarter a year ago.

Revenue guidance for the third quarter is in the range of $87.0 million to $90.0 million, and for the full year guidance is in the range of $376.0 million to $386.0 million, an increase of about 19% over 2011 at the midpoint of the range. Non-GAAP operating income is expected to be in the range of $42 million to $47 million, a 12% non-GAAP operating margin at the midpoint.

QlikTech (NASDAQ: QLIK) closed today at $20.78, and has a market cap of just under $1.8 billion. Its shares are off about 30% over the past three months.



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