Shares of Five9 (FIVN -1.57%) fell 13.4% on Thursday after the cloud contact center platform provider's weak forward guidance overshadowed otherwise-strong fourth-quarter 2023 results.
Five9 ended 2023 on a strong note
Five9's fourth-quarter 2023 revenue grew 15% year over year to $239.1 million, translating to adjusted (non-GAAP) net income of $45.1 million, or $0.61 per share. Analysts, on average, were only expecting earnings of $0.49 per share on revenue of $238 million.
Five9 Chairman and CEO Mike Burkland noted the company's top-line growth was driven by its Enterprise business, which grew 25% for the year.
"We continue to strengthen our AI leadership in CX, gaining meaningful traction with our offerings and significantly enhancing our platform throughout 2023," Burkland added.
What's next for Five9 investors?
For the first quarter of 2024, however, Five9 issued guidance for revenue of $239 million to $240 million -- below estimates of $245.6 million -- which should translate to adjusted net income per share of $0.37 to $0.39.
As such, Five9 also issued full-year 2024 guidance for revenue in the range of $1.053 billion to $1.057 billion, with adjusted net income per share of $2.14 to $2.18. Most analysts on Wall Street were modeling 2024 earnings near the low end of that range, but on revenue closer to $1.06 billion.
In the end, I'm not entirely convinced that Five9's share-price decline is truly indicative of the state of its underlying business. And it might well be positioning itself to overdeliver on its conservative guidance. But in the meantime, it's obvious the market wanted more than Five9 was able to deliver today.
