Appian tumbles 11% after earnings as outlook disappoints

Appian tumbles 11% after earnings as outlook disappoints

Appian's stock fell as much as 11% on Friday before paring losses. The low-code cloud services firm released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 earnings report Thursday and a gave muted outlook.

The firm said its cloud-subscription business will see sales growth of 30% to 31%, which would mark a year-over-year decline from last year's 36% expansion.

The company also said it anticipates a non-GAAP loss per share of between $0.64 and $0.60 for the fiscal year 2021 on revenues of between $353 million and $355 million.

Goldman analysts, led by Christopher D. Merwin, CFA, said Appian did turn in "another strong quarter" on Thursday as low code adoption continues to pave the way for "30% sustainable growth."

However, they also reiterated their "neutral" rating on Appian and issued a $180 price target for the firm due to its lofty valuation - Appian currently trades at roughly 47-times trailing-twelve-month sales.

Merwin and company said they "believe APPN deserves a terminal value in line with other 30%+ growers in our coverage," but not above. Goldman's price target represents a potential 15% drop in share prices from current levels.

Mclean, Virginia-based Appian has seen its shares jump over 40% in 2021 amid a boom for cloud computing companies and