Investors appear to be overreacting today.
Shares of software delivery company JFrog (FROG -17.21%) plunged on Friday after the company reported financial results for the first quarter of 2024. As of 11:30 a.m. ET, JFrog stock was down 18%.
Does this warrant such a big drop?
Explaining a stock move isn’t always straightforward. As best as I can figure, investors are punishing JFrog stock today because management didn’t raise its guidance by as much as they had hoped. To be clear, the company’s financial results surpassed expectations in Q1, and management did raise its full-year guidance. But the raise was modest — hence the disappointment.
In Q1, JFrog generated revenue of $100 million, up 26% year over year and slightly ahead of guidance. CEO and co-founder Shlomi Ben Haim pointed out that the growth was “across multiple verticals and geographies,” which is good. And for the year, the company believes it will grow the top line by about 23% from 2023, which suggests a steady, ongoing growth rate.
JFrog’s management did raise its full-year revenue guidance to $425.5 million to $429.5 million, compared with previous guidance of $424 million to $428 million. Therefore, the raise was quite small and investors apparently wanted more.
What should JFrog investors do now?
JFrog is growing, generates positive free cash flow, and has close to $600 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments. That’s a good position to be in for a company with a market capitalization of only $3.6 billion, as of this writing.
Therefore, I’d say that JFrog stock is a relatively safe investment today — the downside risk seems low. That said, whether the stock is a rewarding investment is another matter entirely. It’s hard for most investors to understand what will drive growth in this industry. And investors should understand this before investing.
It’s not a stock for everybody for this reason. But JFrog stock is worthy of more research for those who like good ideas that are just off the beaten path.
Jon Quast has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends JFrog. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
