Shares of advertising-technology (adtech) company PubMatic (PUBM 1.75%) leaped higher on Tuesday morning after its latest financial results -- delivered Monday after the close -- significantly outperformed Wall Street's expectations. As of 10:48 a.m. ET, PubMatic stock was up 25.6%, and had set a new 52-week high.
PubMatic beats on the top and bottom lines
For the fourth quarter of 2023, PubMatic's management had guided for revenue in the range of $76 million to $80 million. In reality, the company generated revenue of $84.6 million, which was a 14% jump from the prior-year period. PubMatic benefited from having more customers, resulting in a higher number of ads to monetize.
That led to better profits for PubMatic as well. Its net income of almost $19 million represented a net profit margin of 22%. Not only that, it had record free cash flow of almost $53 million in 2023, up 38% from 2022.
Where does PubMatic stock go now?
PubMatic partners with publishers to sell their ad slots. The stock was languishing because advertising spending had cooled overall. However, the company has compensated for the impacts of that industry slowdown by strengthening its customer relationships.
PubMatic works with its customers to reduce the number of adtech companies they're working with -- a strategy called supply path optimization. In Q4, supply path optimization represented 45% of the total activity on its platform, up from just 34% in the same quarter of last year.
In conjunction with Q4's strong results, PubMatic's management announced that it had authorized a $100 million share repurchase, which will be added to the $15.7 million it still had available on its previous authorization. That represents roughly 10% of shares outstanding at the current price -- a significant amount.
In the coming year, PubMatic expects ongoing growth and profits. This further indicates that this small adtech player is operating from a position of strength in a tough business environment. If it continues to deliver these types of results, it won't be surprising to see the stock make further gains.
