The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -2.05%) has been unstoppable for a long time, and the positive trends favoring the tech-heavy index continued on Thursday. As of 12:30 p.m. EDT, the Nasdaq was up about a quarter percent, pushing further into record territory.
Within the Nasdaq, two companies stood out for their strong performance in the software-as-a-service stock space. Investors bid up the share prices for nCino (NCNO) and Nutanix (NTNX -1.31%), and many of those following the stocks believe that the two SaaS stocks could run higher. Let's look more closely.
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A nice jump for nCino
Shares of nCino surged almost 19% on Thursday at midday. The provider of cloud-based banking and digital solutions for financial services companies reported strong second-quarter financial results.
The report nCino made featured a lot of growth. Total revenue climbed 36% to $66.5 million, with subscription services revenue rising an even faster 37%. Total remaining performance obligations under its current agreements with clients jumped 55% to $707 million, representing more than two years' worth of sales at current run rates. Particularly noteworthy was nCino's success internationally, as non-U.S. revenue skyrocketed by 129% year over year to make up about a sixth of the company's total sales.
The client list nCino has is impressive. The company boasted a new commercial banking lending agreement with Wells Fargo and expanded its relationship with U.S. Bancorp. Meanwhile, nCino signed up a major French financial institution, and it found nine new customers for its automated spreading product.
Investors liked what nCino sees ahead, as it projected third-quarter revenue of $66 million to $67 million and full-year sales of $263 million to $264 million. Although nCino is likely to keep posting modest losses, shareholders seem content with the pace at which the budding fintech is grabbing up market share in a key industry niche.
Nutanix heads to the clouds
Meanwhile, shares of Nutanix were up nearly 10% at midday Thursday. The cloud infrastructure software provider's fiscal fourth-quarter financial report inspired its shareholders to believe in its longer-term prospects.
Nutanix took advantage of digital transformation efforts among its customer base. Quarterly revenue climbed 19% to $390.7 million on a 26% rise in billings. Annual recurring revenue surged 83% year over year to $878.7 million. Net losses narrowed considerably from year-ago levels, with the company posting adjusted losses of $0.26 per share.
Nutanix is also proud of what it has accomplished lately. Partnerships with companies like Red Hat and Hewlett Packard Enterprise should help it bolster the scope of its business, and the election of longtime tech advisor and investor Virginia Gambale to be chair of the Nutanix board of directors adds experience and expertise that should help the company move forward even more quickly.
Coming into the report, some investors had feared that Nutanix might not be seeing as much activity in its cloud computing platform as they had hoped to see. One big question facing the company is whether corporate executives in charge of making IT purchasing decisions are ready to move forward with new spending.
As the economy improves, those purchases become more and more likely. That seems to be driving a lot of the enthusiasm about Nutanix stock today, and it's good to see the stock trading at levels not seen since 2019.