DocuSign is Looking for a Buyer

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Digital signature services provider DocuSign (Nasdaq: DOCU) recently announced very strong quarterly results. The company continues to add to its product offerings while it scouts for a potential buyer for itself.

DocuSign’s Financials

Revenues for the fourth quarter grew 8% to $712.4 million. Billings improved 13% to $833.1 million. Adjusted earnings came in at $0.76 per share compared with $0.65 per share a year ago. Analysts estimates revenues of $698.35 million and an EPS of $0.65.

Subscription revenues grew 8% to $695.7 million, while professional services grew 5% to $16.7 million.

DocuSign’s annual revenues improved 10% to $2.8 billion. Subscription revenue grew 10% to $2.7 billion and professional services and other revenue improved 2% to $75.2 million. Adjusted EPS for the full fiscal year grew from $2.03 a year ago to $2.98.

For the first quarter, DocuSign forecast revenues of $704-$708 million and billings of $685-$695 million, compared with the Street’s forecast of revenues of $699.1 million.

DocuSign expects to end the year with revenues of $2.915-$2.927 billion compared with the market’s forecast of $2.92 billion.

DocuSign’s Potential Sale

The big news for DocuSign has been around its potential sale. Last December, it was reported that DocuSign was exploring options of a potential sale through a leveraged buyout. However, the sale process has not been very easy. In January this year, reports revealed that investors Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman were competing to acquire DocuSign. Last month, though, the talks appeared to have slowed down due to valuation disagreements.

Meanwhile, DocuSign continues to improve its product portfolio and overall financials. Last quarter, it announced that it had achieved StateRAMP Authorization that will allow state, local, and education customers to use DocuSign solutions like Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) and eSignature (DocuSign Federal) for their contracts and other agreements.

It also announced new product capabilities overall for generating agreements, improving signing experiences, and managing end-to-end agreements. Some of the new features include the availability of Identity Wallet for Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES) that simplifies the QES agreement process for repeat signers by integrating their Identity Wallet with their mobile or desktop passkey and leveraging built-in biometric scans. The feature will streamline the user identification process, thus accelerating the overall signature process. It also included a modernized DocuSign CLM search experience that has simplified the process to access agreements and leverages AI across contracts to make agreements more discoverable and actionable.

As it works to make its financials leaner, it announced a new restructuring plan that will reduce its current workforce by approximately 6%. Most of the charges are to be incurred in the current quarter and will be completed by the second quarter of the current fiscal.

DocuSign’s stock is trading at $58.12 with a market capitalization of $11.9 billion. It had fallen to a 52-week low of $38.11 in November last year and had climbed to a 52-week high of $64.76 in December based on the possibility of a buyout.

Disclosure:?All investors should make their own assessments based on their own research, informed interpretations, and risk appetite. This article expresses my own opinions based on my own research of product-market fit, channel execution, and other factors. My primary interest is in product strategy. While this may have bearing on stock movements, my writings tend to focus on long-term implications. The information presented is illustrative and educational, but should not be regarded as a complete analysis nor recommendation to buy or sell the securities mentioned herein. I am not a registered investment adviser and I am not receiving compensation for this article. I am an investor in this company.

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