What To Expect From BlackLine’s (BL) Q4 Earnings

Accounting automation software maker Blackline (NASDAQ:BL) will be reporting earnings tomorrow after market hours. Here’s what to look for.

BlackLine beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 1.7% last quarter, reporting revenues of $165.9 million, up 10.1% year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates but decelerating customer growth. It lost 2 customers and ended up with a total of 4,433.

Is BlackLine a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting BlackLine’s revenue to grow 8.1% year on year to $168.4 million, slowing from the 11.3% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.50 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. BlackLine has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates three times over the last two years.

Looking at BlackLine’s peers in the finance and HR software segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Bill.com delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 13.9%, meeting analysts’ expectations, and Paycor reported revenues up 13.1%, topping estimates by 1.9%. Bill.com traded down 35.6% following the results while Paycor’s stock price was unchanged.

Read our full analysis of Bill.com’s results here and Paycor’s results here.

There has been positive sentiment among investors in the finance and HR software segment, with share prices up 10.6% on average over the last month. BlackLine is up 16.2% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $68.20 (compared to the current share price of $65.58).

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