DocuSign's (DOCU -6.22%) strong momentum since it went public last April continued in the company's first quarter of fiscal 2020 as revenue growth accelerated. Growth in the e-signature company's net new customers and expanded-use cases within DocuSign's installed base of customers helped drive robust results.

Here's a look at the quarter's results, as well as management's outlook for more strong growth.

DocuSign's e-signature product on a laptop and smartphone.

Image source: DocuSign.

DocuSign's first-quarter results: The raw numbers

Metric

Q1 2020

Q1 2019

Change

Revenue

$214 million

$156 million

37%

Non-GAAP EPS

$0.07

$0.01

600%

Fiscal years shown. Data source: DocuSign first-quarter update. GAAP = generally accepted accounting principles. EPS = earnings per share.

First-quarter highlights

  • DocuSign's revenue soared 37% year over year, to $214 million -- an acceleration, compared to 34% revenue growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019.
  • Non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.07 on 189 million shares outstanding, compared to $0.01 on 60 million shares outstanding in the year-ago quarter.
  • Subscription revenue (94% of total revenue) increased 36%.
  • Professional services revenue (6% of total revenue) jumped 64%.
  • Billings rose 27% -- a deceleration compared to 31% growth in Q4 and 40% growth in Q3.
  • Total customers increased 26% year over year, to 508,000.
  • Enterprise and commercial customers increased 33%, to 60,000.
  • Free cash flow jumped from $9 million in the year-ago quarter, to $30 million.

What management had to say

DocuSign CEO Dan Springer called the quarter "solid" in the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings release. He pointed out the company's 37% revenue growth and the fact that DocuSign was once again profitable on a non-GAAP basis.

He added:

What's more, we are seeing strong results from the work we've done to optimize our go-to-market sales motion, bringing in net new customers and expanding use cases within our installed base. And with the announcement of the DocuSign Agreement Cloud this quarter -- our suite of products and integrations for automating the entire agreement process -- we can now deliver a much broader set of solutions to market, positioning us as the next 'must-have' cloud.

DocuSign Agreement Cloud is a suite of over a dozen products and hundreds of integrations to help organizations streamline agreements. Management says the new cloud offering "defines a new category of cloud software that we believe has the potential to significantly expand our total addressable market."

Looking forward

Turning to DocuSign's future, Springer said the company's recent announcement of its DocuSign Agreement Cloud will broaden the company's offerings and position DocuSign as "the next 'must-have' cloud."

Given the company's strong top-line momentum in its fiscal first quarter, management lifted its outlook for full-year fiscal 2020 revenue. Previously, management expected revenue for the year to be between $910 million and $915 million. DocuSign guided for fiscal 2020 revenue between $917 million and $922 million.