BlackLine, Inc. revenue growth decelerated to 21.7% in 2020 vs. 26.9% a year earliner
02/11/2021 • About BlackLine, Inc. (
$BL) • By InTwits
BlackLine, Inc. reported 2020 financial results today. Overall the company's long term financial model is characterised by the following facts:
- BlackLine, Inc. is a fast growth stock: 2020 revenue growth was 21.7%, 5 year revenue CAGR was 33.3% at 2020 ROIC -2.3%
- EBITDA Margin is expanding: 1.8% in 2020 vs. -0.2% in 2019 vs. -13.4% in 2016
- BlackLine, Inc. motivates its personel by high Stock Based Compensation (SBC): average SBC/Revenue for 2016-2020 was 3.7% while average EBITDA Margin was -2.5% for the sames years
- BlackLine, Inc. has low CAPEX intensity: 5 year average CAPEX/Revenue was 2.0%. At the same time it's in pair with industry average of 3.7%
- CAPEX is quite volatile: $7m in 2020, $5m in 2019, $6m in 2018, $4m in 2017, $2m in 2016
- In the last 5 years the company invested considerably less than D&A: $23m vs. $60m
- The company has unprofitable business model: ROIC is -2.3%
- It operates with high leverage: Net Debt/EBITDA is 8.0x while industry average is 18.4x
Below you can find a comprehensive analysis of the key data driving the company's performance and the stock price.
Revenue and profitability
BlackLine, Inc.'s Revenue jumped on 21.7%. Revenue growth showed slowdown in 20Q4 - it was 19.3% YoY. Revenue decline was accelerating on average at -6.7 pp per annum in the last 5 years. Revenue decline was accompanies by EBITDA margin decline. EBITDA Margin decreased on 6.7 pp from 13.4% to 6.7% in FY2020. EBITDA Margin grew at 3.6 pp per annum in the last 5 years.
Gross Margin increased slightly on 0.80 pp from 79.6% to 80.4% in 2020. Gross Margin stuck to a growing trend at 1.3 pp per annum in 2016-2020. SG&A as a % of Revenue decreased on 4.4 pp from 74.4% to 70.0% in 2020. SG&A as a % of Revenue declined at -3.8 pp per annum in 2016-2020.
Net Income margin decreased on 2.1 pp from -11.3% to -13.3% in 2020. During 2016-2020 Net Income margin topped in 2019 at -11.3%.
Investments (CAPEX, working capital and M&A)
BlackLine, Inc.'s CAPEX/Revenue was 1.9% in 2020. The company's CAPEX/Revenue showed almost no change from 2017 to 2020. It's average level of CAPEX/Revenue for the last three years was 2.1%. The company has spent a lot to CAPEX (102% of EBITDA) to fuel its growth.
Return on investment
The company operates at negative ROIC (-2.3%) and ROE (-11.4%). ROIC increased on 2.5 pp from -4.8% to -2.3% in 2020. ROE decreased on 2.4 pp from -9.1% to -11.4% in 2020. ROIC grew at 2.8 pp per annum in 2016-2020. During the last 5 years ROE topped in 2018 at -8.7% and was declining since that time.
Leverage (Debt)
Company's Net Debt / EBITDA is 8.0x and Debt / EBITDA is 65.8x. Net Debt / EBITDA surged8.0x from to 8.0x in 2020. Debt increased on 4.7% while cash jumped on 206%.
BlackLine, Inc. has no short term refinancing risk: cash is higher than short term debt (8,859.7%).
Management team
BlackLine, Inc.'s CEO Marc Huffman has spent 2 months with the company. BlackLine, Inc.'s CFO is Mark W Partin. Mark W Partin has 6 years tenure at the company.
Financial and operational results
FY ended 12/31/2020
BlackLine, Inc. ($BL) key annual financial indicators| mln. $ | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2020/2019 |
|---|
P&L
|
|---|
| Revenue | 123.1 | 175.6 | 227.8 | 289.0 | 351.7 | 21.7% |
| Gross Profit | 92.9 | 134.2 | 176.9 | 230.0 | 282.8 | 22.9% |
| SG&A | 105.7 | 140.8 | 176.0 | 214.9 | 246.2 | 14.6% |
| EBITDA | -16.5 | -10.4 | -7.5 | -0.7 | 6.4 | |
| EBIT | -33.9 | -30.4 | -29.8 | | | |
| Interest expence | 5.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | | | |
| Tax | -6.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | | | |
| Net Income | -39.2 | -33.1 | -27.8 | -32.5 | -46.9 | |
| Stock Based Compensation | 6.5 | 16.0 | 20.9 | | | |
Balance Sheet
|
|---|
| Cash | 22.1 | 31.1 | 46.2 | 120.2 | 367.4 | 205.6% |
| Accounts Receivable | 42.3 | 61.9 | 74.9 | | | |
| Accounts Payable | 7.2 | 7.3 | 3.4 | | | |
| Short Term Debt | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 4.9 | 4.1 | -16.0% |
| Long Term Debt | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 394.9 | 414.4 | 4.9% |
Cash flow
|
|---|
| Capex | 1.7 | 4.0 | 6.3 | 4.6 | 6.5 | 40.6% |
| Acquisitions | 31.5 | | | | | |
Ratios
|
|---|
| Revenue growth | 47.3% | 42.6% | 29.7% | 26.9% | 21.7% | |
| EBITDA growth | -17.8% | -36.8% | -28.1% | -91.1% | -1,052.8% | |
|
|---|
| Gross Margin | 75.5% | 76.4% | 77.7% | 79.6% | 80.4% | 0.8% |
| EBITDA Margin | -13.4% | -5.9% | -3.3% | -0.2% | 1.8% | 2.0% |
| EBIT Margin | -27.6% | -17.3% | -13.1% | | |
| SG&A, % of revenue | 85.9% | 80.2% | 77.3% | 74.4% | 70.0% | -4.4% |
| SBC, % of revenue | 5.3% | 9.1% | 9.2% | | |
| Net Income Margin | -31.8% | -18.8% | -12.2% | -11.3% | -13.3% | -2.1% |
| CAPEX, % of revenue | 1.4% | 2.3% | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1.9% | 0.2% |
|
|---|
| ROIC | -13.9% | -10.0% | -9.3% | -4.8% | -2.3% | 2.5% |
| ROE | -17.1% | -10.9% | -8.7% | -9.1% | -11.4% | -2.4% |
| Net Debt/EBITDA | | | | | 8.0x |
| Interest expence / Average debt | 598.0% | 2.9% | | | | |
People
|
|---|
| Insider ownership | 15.4% | 15.4% | 15.4% | | | |
| Employees | 597 | 740 | 850 | | | |
| Revenue/Employee, th. $ | 206 | 237 | 268 | | | |
BlackLine, Inc. ($BL) key quoterly financial indicators
| mln. $ | 20Q1 | 20Q2 | 20Q3 | 20Q4 | | YoY change |
|---|
P&L
|
|---|
| Revenue | 83 | 83 | 90 | 96 | | 28.8% | 19.5% | 20.3% | 19.3% |
| EBITDA | -3 | 2 | 3 | -1 | | - | 20.0% | - | -170.3% |
| Net Income | -13 | -8 | -9 | -17 | | - | - | - | - |
Balance Sheet
|
|---|
| Cash | 311 | 472 | 408 | 367 | | 526.0% | 645.6% | -22.7% | 205.6% |
| Short Term Debt | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | | -9.2% | -10.3% | -10.3% | -16.0% |
| Long Term Debt | 400 | 404 | 409 | 414 | | 3,230.1% | 3,358.4% | 4.7% | 4.9% |
Ratios
|
|---|
| Gross Margin | 80.6% | 79.9% | 81.2% | 80.0% | | 1.8% | 1.3% | 1.6% | -1.2% |
| EBITDA Margin | -3.3% | 1.9% | 3.5% | -1.0% | | -0.0% | 0.0% | 5.0% | -2.6% |
| Net Income Margin | -15.5% | -10.0% | -9.7% | -17.7% | | -1.9% | -2.1% | 2.6% | -6.3% |
Peers in Application Software
Below we provide BlackLine, Inc. benchmarking against other companies in Application Software industry for the last 5 years. We show data for the top-5 companies by key financial metric together with the median value for all the companies in the industry.
Top companies by Revenue growth, %
| Top 5 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 |
|---|
| VirnetX Holding Corp ($VHC) | - | -0.2% | -95.9% | 34.9% | 355,942.4% |
| AudioEye, Inc. ($AEYE) | - | 175.5% | 106.6% | 90.2% | 90.2% |
| Cloudera, Inc. ($CLDR) | - | 57.2% | 42.6% | 28.9% | 65.5% |
| Integrated Ventures Inc ($INTV) | - | - | - | -8.9% | 62.7% |
| Smartsheet Inc. ($SMAR) | - | 64.3% | 66.1% | 59.7% | 52.4% |
| |
|---|
| Median (92 companies) | 12.0% | 14.8% | 15.1% | 19.4% | 14.5% |
|---|
| BlackLine, Inc. ($BL) | - | 42.6% | 29.7% | 26.9% | 21.7% |
Top companies by Gross margin, %
| Top 5 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 |
|---|
| Aware, Inc. ($AWRE) | 90.3% | 94.6% | 92.3% | 89.7% | 92.8% |
| Alteryx, Inc. ($AYX) | 81.3% | 83.4% | 91.0% | 90.6% | 91.1% |
| Autodesk, Inc. ($ADSK) | 85.2% | 83.2% | 85.2% | 88.9% | 90.1% |
| Smith Micro Software, Inc. ($SMSI) | 73.2% | 77.9% | 83.5% | 90.9% | 89.9% |
| Cadence Design Systems, Inc. ($CDNS) | 85.9% | 87.8% | 87.9% | 88.6% | 88.6% |
| |
|---|
| Median (89 companies) | 63.8% | 64.4% | 65.3% | 67.9% | 69.4% |
|---|
| BlackLine, Inc. ($BL) | 75.5% | 76.4% | 77.7% | 79.6% | 80.4% |
Top companies by EBITDA margin, %
| Top 5 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 |
|---|
| VirnetX Holding Corp ($VHC) | -1,837.2% | -1,118.0% | -40,379.4% | -23,127.1% | 52.2% |
| j2 Global, Inc. ($JCOM) | 41.7% | 36.5% | 35.7% | 38.6% | 40.5% |
| Intelligent Systems Corporation ($INS) | -5.4% | -12.8% | 33.6% | 43.6% | 40.4% |
| Adobe Inc. ($ADBE) | 31.2% | 34.2% | 35.3% | 35.8% | 39.7% |
| SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. ($SSNC) | 34.9% | 37.9% | 27.7% | 38.2% | 38.3% |
| |
|---|
| Median (89 companies) | -4.7% | -3.3% | -3.3% | 4.5% | 7.7% |
|---|
| BlackLine, Inc. ($BL) | -13.4% | -5.9% | -3.3% | -0.2% | 1.8% |
Top companies by CAPEX/Revenue, %
| Top 5 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 |
|---|
| MicroStrategy Incorporated ($MSTR) | 0.5% | 0.8% | 1.4% | 2.1% | 234.8% |
| Integrated Ventures Inc ($INTV) | - | - | 199.9% | 15.2% | 27.2% |
| Intelligent Systems Corporation ($INS) | 3.8% | 9.7% | 4.3% | 4.9% | 19.2% |
| LivePerson, Inc. ($LPSN) | 5.5% | 7.9% | 8.8% | 16.3% | 11.4% |
| PROS Holdings, Inc. ($PRO) | 4.7% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 2.1% | 11.3% |
| |
|---|
| Median (87 companies) | 3.0% | 2.3% | 2.4% | 3.0% | 2.6% |
|---|
| BlackLine, Inc. ($BL) | 1.4% | 2.3% | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1.9% |
Top companies by ROIC, %
| Top 5 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 |
|---|
| VirnetX Holding Corp ($VHC) | -210.9% | -256.8% | -416.3% | -247.2% | 137.3% |
| Manhattan Associates, Inc. ($MANH) | 99.3% | 102.5% | 80.9% | 71.7% | 53.4% |
| Citrix Systems, Inc. ($CTXS) | 16.1% | 16.7% | 25.2% | 29.8% | 33.5% |
| Sonic Foundry, Inc. ($SOFO) | -18.1% | -50.6% | -786.4% | - | 31.3% |
| Paycom Software, Inc. ($PAYC) | 75.4% | 51.1% | 47.5% | 47.5% | 28.7% |
| |
|---|
| Median (92 companies) | -9.2% | -11.8% | -10.6% | -4.2% | -1.8% |
|---|
| BlackLine, Inc. ($BL) | -13.9% | -10.0% | -9.3% | -4.8% | -2.3% |
Top companies by Net Debt / EBITDA
| Top 5 | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2018 | FY2019 | FY2020 |
|---|
| Dropbox, Inc. ($DBX) | - | -3.8x | - | 2.4x | 1,341.0x |
| Avaya Holdings Corp. ($AVYA) | - | - | 7.4x | - | 77.9x |
| Alteryx, Inc. ($AYX) | - | - | 2.5x | 6.1x | 32.2x |
| Five9, Inc. ($FIVN) | -6.7x | -8.6x | 7.3x | 5.3x | 17.6x |
| Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. ($SNCR) | - | - | - | - | 11.6x |
| |
|---|
| Median (53 companies) | -0.9x | -0.8x | -0.7x | 0.4x | 0.0x |
|---|
| BlackLine, Inc. ($BL) | - | - | - | - | 8.0x |
