Hey, it wasn’t that long ago that Box was lost in single-digit growth doldrums being dogged by activist investors. But today, the company announced its earnings, and revenue was up 18% over the prior year to $238.4 million, easily beating consensus estimates of $235 million, according to the company.
This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of increased growth rate, and they were so positive on that outlook they improved their guidance slightly for FY2023 from $992 million to $996 million, up from the previous range of $990 million to $996 million, as the company edges toward the $1 billion revenue mark.
The quarter is in line with its prior quarter in which revenue grew 17%. It’s the kind of steady growth that is looking pretty good in the current climate. Consider that Zoom reported the other day with revenue up 12%, and Dropbox reported revenue up 9.9% in its report earlier this month.
Company co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie says the momentum is being driven by the continuing platform expansion. “So our expansion in e-signature, workflow automation, data security and compliance are all driving these results, and we’re seeing more and more of our customers adopt our multiproduct packaging and suites,” he said.
Levie said that the company is working hard to ensure that it is well positioned for the softening economy, which enabled it to increase guidance incrementally on revenue growth for this year, as well as guide up on its operating margin and EPS targets for the year.
He is cognizant of the shifting economic conditions, and although he is reluctant to make any predictions in this regard, he believes Box is well positioned to withstand economic ups and downs.
“Everything I will say is based on how things are today and I can’t predict where the economic trends go next, but in general, we’ve tried to build a platform that is able to be very successful in any kind of economic environment,” he said.
That’s because he believes the platform’s capabilities are relevant, regardless of external conditions. “We’re moving to an economic environment where necessity is going to trump all else … And we believe that our product roadmap has many characteristics that align well to either lowering costs for your customers or making them more efficient as they as they run their businesses.”