What happened
Shares of Atlassian (TEAM +5.65%) and Twilio (TWLO +4.39%) were both getting knocked around Tuesday. As of 2:05 p.m. ET, Atlassian was down a whopping 7.9%, while Twilio was down a more modest 2.2%. At that point, the Nasdaq Composite was sporting just a 0.1% decline.
Investors in those cloud computing stocks and others can thank ServiceNow (NOW +6.61%) CEO Bill McDermott for their pain Tuesday.
So what
In a CNBC interview Monday night, McDermott talked about "macroeconomic crosswinds" like the strong U.S. dollar, inflation, rising interest rates, and the war in Europe. That these issues are dampening the mood among corporate decision-makers isn't exactly a revelation. And McDermott did say that conditions in the corporate world aren't nearly as bad as Wall Street and the media are presenting them.
Nevertheless, investors decided to wax negative and punish ServiceNow and its fellow cloud-based software stocks. Some analysts think McDermott and his team could dial back their growth outlook when ServiceNow reports earnings on July 27. And if giants like ServiceNow join the likes of Salesforce (CRM +3.18%) and even Microsoft (MSFT +2.61%) and reduce their growth expectations, why wouldn't smaller outfits like Atlassian and Twilio do so as well?
Now what
For what it's worth, Atlassian has guided for a subscription revenue growth rate in the mid-50% range for its fiscal 2022. As for Twilio, its management forecast an annualized organic growth rate of at least 30% for at least the next couple of years. The next quarterly updates from those companies are expected in late July or early August.
Given how hyper-sensitive markets are these days, expect plenty of volatility ahead for Atlassian, Twilio, and their cloud peers. But if you're a long-term buy-and-hold investor, this could be a great buying opportunity. Despite global economic worries, providers of cloud-based communications tools like Atlassian and Twilio are doing more than just fine right now.
