Alteryx Inc., the maker of data analytics software, finished its annual user conference with one analyst noting the Irvine-based company has a “cult-like” following while saying the stock price could be worth far more than today’s value.
The company (NYSE: AYX) attracted 4,500 to its sold-out, five-day conference called Inspire 2019, which was held June 10 to 14 in Nashville, Tenn.
The excitement could also be seen in its shares that rose all week, including 11% on June 12, along with other tech sector stocks on news that rival Tableau Software Inc. was being acquired by Salesforce.com for $15.3 billion. Last week, Alteryx’s shares hit $107.99, its all-time high since going public at $15 in 2017. It now has a market cap of $6.8 billion.
“We came away from the investor session incrementally more positive on Alteryx, especially on the long-term ability to be a highly profitable company,” Rishi Jaluria, a senior research analyst for D.A. Davidson & Co., wrote in a note to investors on June 11. Customers valued the product’s “ease of use and deployability,” he wrote two days later.
Jaluria recapped a management scenario for Alteryx to reach 35% to 40% non-GAAP operating margins, and 30% to 35% free cash flow margins within six years.
“If Alteryx can achieve this model, while still growing 20% on the top line, shares today could be worth $130,” Jaluria wrote.
Ittai Kidron, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., said before the annual conference that he sees a “long period of expansion ahead” as Alteryx faces competitive pressures over the long term.
On May 1, Kidron maintained a “bullish view” on the stock, while citing possible risk factors such as “lackluster expansion activity at customers,” along with the possible risk that “new user growth slows significantly.” He also cited longer-term competitive pressures.
During a presentation at the Nashville conference, Alteryx introduced Assisted Modeling, “an interactive guide built into the Alteryx Platform to walk users through the creation of machine learning models.”
Alteryx, which was co-founded by Chief Executive Dean Stoecker in 1997, says Assisted Modeling should help analysts and “citizen data scientists.”
