Why Cornerstone OnDemand Shares Shot Into the Clouds

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Learning and management software maker Cornerstone OnDemand (Nasdaq: CSOD  ) jumped as much as 15% earlier in the trading session after reporting its second-quarter results.

So what: For the quarter, Cornerstone reported a loss of $0.09 per share as gross revenue rose to $26.7 million, a sizable 54% leap over the year-ago period. These results were pretty much in line with Wall Street's expectations for $26.44 million in revenue and a loss of $0.09. Overall, bookings rose by 51% and Cornerstone ended the quarter with more than 1,000 clients and 9.4 million users.

Now what: Here we have another quarter of solid sales growth from Cornerstone, but high costs continue to yield losses and negate gross margins of 74%. Just as I noted back in March, when I took a highly pessimistic view of Cornerstone, even margins in the 70th percentile aren't enough to make it profitable. Without question, Cornerstone's valuation leaves a lot to be desired. Profits aren't expected by Wall Street for at least two more years, and the company is already trading at 22 times book value. That's far too rich for my blood and I'd consider utilizing today's rally as a reason to exit the stock.

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