What happened
Shares of Guidewire Software (GWRE -0.63%) jumped on Friday after the software provider to the property and casualty insurance industry reported its fiscal fourth-quarter results. Guidewire beat analyst estimates across the board, which was enough to overcome weak guidance. The stock was up about 17.3% at 12 p.m. EDT.
So what
Guidewire reported fourth-quarter revenue of $207.9 million, down 13% year over year but more than $3 million above the average analyst estimate. License and subscription revenue was down 11% to $127.7 million; services revenue was down 23% to $58.3 million; and maintenance revenue was up 6% to $21.8 million.
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Non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share came in at $0.56, down from $0.75 in the prior-year period and $0.06 higher than analysts were expecting. Guidewire earned $0.28 per share on a GAAP basis, down from $0.72 per share in the prior-year period.
Guidewire co-founder and chairman Marcus Ryu talked up the company's cloud software efforts: "Our strategic priority is to evolve and scale Guidewire Cloud to serve the operational and advanced analytic needs of the global P&C industry. With 65% of our new software sales in fiscal year 2019 from cloud products, we believe the industry is increasingly selecting Guidewire Insurance Platform as its platform of choice."
Now what
While Guidewire's results were ahead of expectations, the company's guidance fell short. Guidewire expects first-quarter revenue between $149 million and $153 million, well below analyst estimates of $187.2 million. For the full year, revenue guidance of $759 million to $771 million was also below analyst expectations of $799 million.
This weak guidance didn't seem to matter to investors, though, as the stock powered higher on Friday.
