A busy month of results releases came to a close on Thursday.
On the whole, I felt this earnings season was a positive one with more results in line or beating expectations than falling short of them.
Three results which I think were arguably the best of the season are summarised below:
Altium Limited (ASX: ALU)
This electronic design software company's half year result was the best one I saw during earnings season. Thanks to increasing demand for its software driven by the Internet of Things boom, Altium posted half year revenue of US$78 million and profit after tax of $23.4 million. This represented revenue growth of 26% and net profit after tax growth of 58% on the prior corresponding period. This puts Altium on course to achieve its US$200 million revenue target by the end of FY 2020. Looking further out, management announced an aspirational revenue target of US$500 million by 2025. While this is certainly a bold target, I think the quality of its products and the massive market opportunity means it has a strong chance of achieving it.
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)
Another very impressive result during earnings season was the full year result of this global leader in the development of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence. Thanks to the accelerating AI market and the high and growing demand for quality training data, Appen delivered underlying EBITDA of $71.3 million. This was an increase of 153% on FY 2017's result and 9.7% higher than the top end of its upgraded guidance given in November. In FY 2019 management expects the fast-growing AI market to fuel increasing demand for its services and has provided underlying EBITDA guidance in the range of $85 million to $90 million. This guidance implies year on year growth of 19% to 26%.
Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB)
I thought that this online travel agent's half year results were very strong. For the six months ended December 31, Webjet delivered a 29% increase in total transaction value to $1.9 billion, a 33% lift in revenue to $175.3 million, and a 42% jump in EBITDA to $58 million. The key driver of the company's strong result was its WebBeds segment. From continuing operations, the segment's booking growth increased 50%, TTV rose 65%, and EBITDA stormed 136% higher to $30.1 million. The good news is that management believes "there are considerable global growth opportunities for WebBeds, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region."
