Tech Growth Earnings Review for Q3 2020 - Part 2
November 17, 2020
Beth Kindig
Lead Tech Analyst
In the second part of my Q3 2020 tech earnings review series, I covered Roku, Square, The Trade Desk, Datadog and JFrog.
Roku
Roku reported Q3 earnings on November 5th. The 73% year-over-year revenue growth the company announced was 23% above consensus expectations. Gross profit rose 81% YoY while gross margin rose 216 basis points in total to 47.6%.
Roku added 2.9M active accounts in the quarter (+43% YoY). Total streaming hours increased by 0.2 billion hours over the last quarter to 14.8B (+54% YoY), while ARPU grew 20% YoY to $27.
Roku was a beneficiary of the rebound in ad spend, as the company saw Q3 monetized video ad impressions grow 90% YoY vs. 50% YoY growth last quarter. Roku is anticipating that Q4 revenue growth will likely be in the mid-40% range, similar to the growth rate seen in the last few holiday seasons. Per the earnings call, the company is being cautious about holiday spending with this forecasted guidance.
Square
Square announced blowout Q3 results with huge beats on both the top and bottom lines. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.34 beat consensus expectations by $0.18. The company saw revenue grow 140% YoY to $3.03B, beating the consensus estimate by $950M or 46%.
Gross payment volume of $31.7B was 6% above expectations. In total, Square saw gross profit rise 59% YoY, while Cash App gross profit soared 212% YoY.
In the quarter, the number of average daily transacting Cash App customers nearly doubled from the same period last year. Square did not provide guidance for Q4, but noted in its shareholder letter that the trends they observed in Q3 remained strong through October.
Square’s Seller Ecosystem revenue grew 5% YoY as regions began to reopen. More impressive was the growth of Square’s Cash App Ecosystem, which saw an increase of 23% in daily active users and 574% YoY growth in revenue.
The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk announced Q3 results that easily cleared analysts’ expectations. Revenue grew 32% YoY, beating consensus estimates by 19%. Non-GAAP EPS of $1.27 was a big beat on the consensus bottom-line expectation of $0.45. The company noted that it saw Connected TV grow over 100%, Mobile video spend grow 70% and Audio spend grow 70%.
Management issued an upbeat outlook for Q4, expecting $289M in revenue at the midpoint vs. expectations of $255.1M. At the midpoint of this estimate, The Trade Desk is expecting roughly 34% YoY revenue growth in Q4. TTD shares traded over $700 for the first time immediately following the announcement of these results.
Datadog
In Q3, Datadog recorded its 13th consecutive quarter with a dollar-based net retention rate exceeding 130%. Operating margin improved to 9% in the quarter versus expectations of 0.6%, while gross margin improved 3% to 79%.
Q4 guidance was issued for $163M in revenue at the midpoint (+43% YoY) which was 5% above the consensus outlook. Datadog shares initially sold off as much as 14% on these results, but the stock pared its losses to close trade on Wednesday. The stock rebounded Thursday and is now up over 11% off Wednesday’s lows.
In its Q3 earnings call, Datadog’s CEO Olivier Pomel commented on the recovery in usage trends the company observed after a weak Q2. “Throughout the quarter, usage growth of existing customers was robust which was a return to more normalized levels after slower usage expansion in Q2…the pace of usage growth in Q3 was broadly in line with pre-COVID historical levels.”
JFrog
JFrog announced earnings for Q3 in its first quarter as a public company. The company grew revenue 40% YoY, beating consensus expectations by 3%. JFrog also announced Non-GAAP EPS of $0.05, beating expectations by 5 cents.
Gross margins came in at an impressive 83% while FCF margin improved to 25% in Q3. For Q4, JFrog expects $41.4M in revenue at the midpoint vs. consensus of $40.52M. The stock has initially sold off up to 10% on the results, as the 40% revenue growth represents a deceleration from the 46% growth recorded last quarter. Even after today’s sell-off, FROG still trades at approximately 30x 2021 revenue, which remains among the highest valuations in the software industry.
Gains of up to 2,880% from our Free Newsletter.
Here are sample stock gains from the I/O Fund’s newsletter --- produced weekly and all for free!
2,880% on Nvidia
750% on Bitcoin
*as of Nov 20, 2024
Our newsletter provides an edge in the world’s most valuable industry – technology. Due to the enormous gains from this particular industry, we think it’s essential that every stock investor have a credible source who specializes in tech. Subscribe for Free Weekly Analysis on the Best Tech Stocks.
If you are a more serious investor, we have a premium service that offers lower entries and real-time trade alerts. Sample returns on the premium site include 4,490% on Nvidia, 900% on Chainlink, and 1,120% on Bitcoin. The I/O Fund is audited annually to prove it’s one of the best-performing Funds on the market, with returns that beat Wall Street funds.
Get a bonus for subscription!
Subscribe to our free weekly stock
analysis and receive the "AI Stock: 5
Things Nobody is Telling you" brochure
for free.
More To Explore
Newsletter
Semiconductor Stocks Exposed To China With Tariffs Incoming
Semiconductor stocks will come into focus in 2025 as geopolitical tensions rise. China is likely to retaliate following Trump’s most recent threats of 10% additional tariffs to all Chinese goods. This
Shopify Stock Is A Black Friday Beneficiary That Faces Key Test In Q4
Black Friday and Cyber Monday e-commerce sales broke records again this year, with Adobe pointing out that US sales increased 10.2% YoY to $10.8 billion on Black Friday while Cyber Monday sales rose 7
Nvidia’s Stock Has 70% Potential Upside For 2025
Nvidia once again posted a $2 billion beat to consensus revenue estimates in Q3, reporting YoY growth of nearly 94% to over $35 billion in revenue. Data center revenue more than doubled in the quarter
Nvidia Stock Is A Buy On Dips Before Blackwell Arrives In 2025
Nvidia’s stock broke to all-time highs recently, trading at $148 in early November and $147 yesterday. The stock has left many investors wondering “what comes next” after the unrelenting, historic sur
AI Spending To Exceed A Quarter Trillion Next Year
Big Tech’s AI spending continues to accelerate at a blistering pace, with the four giants well on track to spend upwards of a quarter trillion dollars predominantly towards AI infrastructure next year
Palantir Stock: How High Is Too High?
Palantir proved again in Q3 that it’s undeniably one of the stronger AI software stocks in the market outside of the cloud hyperscalers. The company reported visible AI-driven growth and persisting bu
Bitcoin Bull Market Intact as Risk Increases
In December 2022, we boldly stated that “Bitcoin is a buy” when it was trading around $17,000. We were positioning for a new bull cycle and projected a target between $75,000 - $132,000. Despite Bitco
Tesla Stock: Margins Bounce Back For AI-Leader
Tesla is arguably one of the most advanced AI companies in the world, yet its stock is dictated by margins. Over the past three years, Tesla’s average gross profit per vehicle has declined by 60%, fal
This Stock Is Crushing Salesforce, MongoDB And Snowflake In AI Revenue
In this article, I break down how Palantir’s AIP is putting it a step above peer Salesforce, MongoDB and Snowflake with visible AI growth, and its undeniable ‘secret sauce’.
Nvidia, Mag 7 Flash Warning Signs For Stocks
In this report, my team will address the risks brewing in the market. The strange behavior in the bond market could be signaling that the FOMC has made a policy error. This coupled with key tech stock