Fra XI-forum - Update i dag fra DNB:
While yesterday Meltwaters December Premium Client Segment trading update is seemingly setting the company up for a Q4 in line with consensus expectations, the market seemed unimpressed sending the stock down ~14%, significantly underperforming peers and the broader market, an underperformance which could also partially have been driven by recent negative local media coverage.
Meltwater added a stellar ~USD12m in net new ARR from larger clients during Q4. Meltwater yesterday reported in a regular trading update that it added ~USD3m in net new ARR for its Premium Client Segment during December, implying that approximately USD12m in net new ARR was added to the enterprise segment during Q4 as a whole. While there was a sequential slowdown in delta ARR for this segment from USD5.4m in November to USD2.9m in December, we understand this to be in line with the historical seasonality of the business.
December update sets company up for meeting our and consensus estimates. While we would obviously love to see a December sequentially larger than November in terms of delta ARR, the 23% and 67% YOY growth in DARR during December and Q4, respectively, results in organic growth of 25% YOY for Meltwater, which combined with our expectation for the non-Premium Client Segment (about the same sequential improvement as seen in Q3 of USD2m) would put end-of-2021 ARR at USD445m, which is in line with our (USD445m) and consensus (USD444m) estimates.
Stock weakness further amplified by negative local press. While the numbers coming out yesterday should have been neutral in terms of share price in our view, the broader market decline’s weight on Meltwater’s stock seems to have been further amplified by negative coverage in the local language media yesterday, which from the looks of it continued after market close “ articles highlighting the stock’s recent weakness and short positions.
We continue to find share price development difficult to understand, setting up for an attractive entry point. As Meltwater’s stock continues to slide, we find it difficult to understand the company’s valuation. Currently trading at about 2x 2021 EV/sales (DNBe), compared to key peers in the range 6-21x (Bloomberg consensus), we continue to find the current share price an attractive entry point.