What happened
Shares of Cantaloupe (CTLP +0.00%) fell as much as 12.9% early Thursday, then settled to close down 7.9% after the digital-payments and software-services company announced weaker-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter 2023 earnings (for the period ended June 30, 2023).
Cantaloupe's headline numbers were technically mixed relative to consensus estimates. Quarterly revenue climbed 11% year over year, to $64.2 million, slightly above analysts' expectations calling for $63.4 million. On the bottom line, that translated to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net income of $2.8 million, or $0.04 per share, improved from a loss of $0.03 per share in the same year-ago period but below consensus estimates for earnings of $0.06 per share.
NASDAQ: CTLP
Key Data Points
So what
Transaction fees comprised the bulk of Cantaloupe's top line, growing 18% year over year to $35.5 million during the quarter. Subscription fees also climbed 17% to $17.5 million, more than offsetting a 15% decline in equipment sales to $11.2 million.
Cantaloupe's active customers totaled 28,584 at the end of the fiscal year, up 19% from 23,991 a year ago. Active devices also grew 3% to 1.17 million.
Cantaloupe made obvious strides in profitability as well. In addition to swinging to positive GAAP earnings this quarter, adjusted EBITDA soared more than fourfold year over year to $9.2 million.
Now what
For the full fiscal-year 2024, Cantaloupe expects revenue to be between $275 million and $285 million -- the midpoint of which is slightly above analysts' consensus estimates for $278.5 milion -- with the vast majority derived from transaction and subscription revenue (between $234 million and $242 million). Cantaloupe anticipates GAAP net income this fiscal year of between $9 million and $15 million, which would equate to around $0.16 per share (in line with expectations), assuming its current number of shares outstanding remains steady. But noting Cantaloupe didn't provide specific guidance for its expected increase in the number of fully diluted shares for fiscal 2024, it's relatively safe to assume we'll see an increase, given normal dilutive expenses such as stock-based compensation.
In any case, Cantaloupe's results weren't exactly bad. But with shares of Cantaloupe still up more than 60% year to date even after today's dip, it's not terribly surprising to see the stock pulling back on the heels of this technically mixed quarter.
