What happened
Shares of BTRS Holdings (BTRS), the parent company of Billtrust, which helps businesses automate accounts receivable payments, had fallen nearly 23% as of 3:26 p.m. ET today after the company reported earnings results for the first quarter of 2022.
So what
Billtrust reported a net loss of $0.18 per share on total revenue of $45.6 million. Earnings missed analyst estimates by a wide margin, while revenue beat.
Image source: Getty Images.
"Our great momentum continued in the first quarter, led by 16.3% year-over-year software and payments segment revenue growth and 33.6% adjusted software and payments growth," Flint Lane, the founder and CEO of Billtrust, said in a statement. "Demand for our highly profitable accounts receivable product suite remains robust, and rapid adoption continues to drive strong results in our core software and payments segment."
Total payments volume (the dollar value of customer payment transactions) in the quarter of $22 billion is up 45% year over year but did fall slightly from total payments volume in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Billtrust also reiterated its full-year guidance, which forecasts total revenue to come in around $200 million and an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) loss of around $15 million.
Now what
The quarter didn't really look that bad other than the earnings miss, but falling total payments volume may be part of the reason for the disappointment from the market.
Investors have also been laser focused on guidance. While Billtrust reiterated its guidance, it still shows that the company will not reach profitability even on an adjusted EBITDA basis this year, which could be a turnoff to a market that is currently taking a very skeptical approach to growth stories.
