What happened
Shares of software company SVMK (SVMK +0.00%), also known as SurveyMonkey, popped on Friday after the company beat its own revenue guidance for the first quarter of 2021. And because of that beat, the company decided to raise its guidance for the rest of the year. As a result, the stock was up 10% as of 11:10 a.m. EDT today.
So what
In its first-quarter letter to shareholders, management said, "Q1 can be summed up in one word: execution." For the quarter, SVMK generated revenue of $102.3 million, up 16% year over year and exceeding the high end of its revenue guidance of $101.5 million. Sales to enterprise customers grew faster than total revenue, up 24% from last year and now accounting for 30% of total revenue.
Image source: Getty Images.
The market appears pleased with SVMK's financial results, as evidenced by its 10% pop. But not every Wall Street analyst was impressed. According to The Fly, an analyst with Needham lowered their price target for SVMK stock from $29 per share to just $22 -- a substantial reduction of 24%. Still, that reduced price target suggests strong upside from where the stock trades right now, which might explain why the market shrugged it off so easily.
Now what
SVMK was originally forecasting full-year 2021 revenue of $436 million to $443 million. However, management is more optimistic now than before and raised guidance to a range of $440 million to $447 million. As management said, "Many of our growth initiatives are either early in their maturity or not yet launched," which is why it's so bullish. The company has integrated a lot of new products in recent months to help businesses as they transition back to the office, and that could help this technology-software company continue making gains in its growing enterprise-customer base.
