As the trading week came to a close, investors were piling into Guidewire Software (GWRE 9.18%) stock. The developer of software solutions for the insurance industry released quarterly results after market hours Thursday, and the following day its shares were a big hit. As of midafternoon, they were up by nearly 12%. That was a far better performance than the almost 2% decline of the S&P 500 index at that time.
A major revenue category saw a major jump
For its fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, ended July 31, Guidewire's revenue came in at $291.5 million, which was 5% higher on a year-over-year basis. More than half of that take derived from subscription and support revenue; this rose a meaty 29% to nearly $152 million. License and services revenue, on the other hand, both declined over that stretch of time. The former fell by 12% to just under $89 million, while the latter decreased by 2% to almost $51 million.
Speaking of declines, non-GAAP (adjusted) net income eroded some from the year-ago quarter. It landed at $54 million, or $0.62 per share, versus the second quarter of fiscal 2023's nearly $63 million.
Regardless, Guidewire handily topped the consensus analyst estimates. On average, pundits following the stock were modeling less than $284 million for revenue, and only $0.54 per share in adjusted profitability.
NYSE: GWRE
Key Data Points
Expecting a billion-dollar year
Guidewire capped its earnings release with selected guidance for both its current (first) quarter, and the entirety of fiscal 2025. For the year it's expecting to book revenue of nearly $1.14 billion to just under $1.15 billion, with adjusted operating income of $157 million to $171 million. It did not provide any net income forecasts.
