Cautious outlook for Workday

Workday building | Workday first quarter

Key Takeaways

Workday reported a 17.9% increase in total revenues for Q3 fiscal 2021, reaching $1.11 billion.

Subscription revenue rose by 21.3% to $968.5 million, with a non-GAAP operating margin of 24.2% and an operating profit of $268.1 million.

Despite strong performance, Workday's forecast for January-quarter subscription revenue backlog growth was lower than estimates, leading to a decline in stock value.

Workday has reported its Q3 fiscal 2021 results which show a 17.9 percent increase in total revenues to $1.11bn.

Workday’s subscription revenue was up 21.3 percent to $968.5m and its non-GAAP operation margin was 24.2 percent with operating profit totalling $268.1m.

Despite the results topping estimates, the ongoing COVID crisis has meant that Workday has forecast January-quarter subscription revenue backlog growth of 14 to 16 percent, versus estimates of 17 percent, which has caused its stock to take a hit. 

Aneel Bhusri, co-founder and co-CEO of Workday said: “It was another strong quarter across our product portfolio with continued momentum in financial management – which has now reached 1,000 customers. We also had some of our largest Workday human capital management go-lives to-date and record customer demand on the strategic sourcing front. In this rapidly changing environment, the value of Workday in helping businesses drive and support change is clear, as more organizations focus on digital acceleration in order to meet the demands of the year and beyond.”