Software Companies' Second-Quarter Beat Rate Accelerates Sequentially, RBC Says
Software companies' revenue and earnings beat rates accelerated sequentially in the second quarter, driven by strength in infrastructure, security, and observability, RBC Capital Markets said in a note emailed Wednesday.Among the 54 on-quarter software companies that have reported results in the most recent cycle, the average company topped Wall Street's revenue estimates by 2.6%, up from a 2.4% beat in the first quarter, according to the brokerage. The profitability measure surpassed consensus expectations by 21.2%, compared with the first quarter's 15.7%."The biggest (second-quarter) revenue beats came from infrastructure, security, and observability while the smallest beats came from back Office, (software-as-a-service), and vertical," Matthew Hedberg, RBC's head of global technology, Internet, media, and telecommunications research, said in the note.The annual recurring revenue-to-billings ratio exceeded estimates by 3.4%, reaching the highest level in four years.Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Twilio (TWLO), Cloudflare (NET), and Xometry (XMTR) registered positive stock moves the day after results as they posted accelerated revenue beats, Hedberg said. Other companies that helped buoy sentiment were those with positive commentary on artificial intelligence tailwinds or adoption.Datadog (DDOG) and Varonis Systems (VRNS) logged share price declines post earnings as they "did not clear high bars," while HubSpot's (HUBS) stock traded lower amid reduced guidance, according to the RBC note. Meanwhile, EverCommerce (EVCM), IBM (IBM), N-able (NABL), and Pegasystems (PEGA) seem to be navigating a tough spending environment."While software stock movement has bifurcated through 2026 over perceived AI leaders/laggards, (second-quarter) showed a clear sign of bifurcating fundamentals with numerous companies seeing pressure from AI spending taking away budget or delaying decision-making," RBC analysts said.The brokerage said the full-year 2026 revenue outlook was 0.7% above consensus on average as top-line guides came in better than expected, while full-year profitability guidance topped market expectations by 2.8%.Salesforce (CRM), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Nutanix (NTNX), Okta (OKTA) and Veeva Systems (VEEV) are scheduled to report off-quarter results on Aug. 26."Similar to the (on-quarter) cohort, we expect price action for the (off-quarter) cohort to be volatile with a bifurcation in the AI haves and have not," RBC said.
