Overview
- Workday topped estimates with adjusted EPS of $2.32 versus $2.18 expected and revenue of $2.43 billion, including $2.24 billion in subscription sales up roughly 14% year over year.
- Management guided to about $8.83 billion in fiscal-year subscription revenue (roughly 14.4% growth) and at least 28.5% adjusted operating margin for Q4, a tone viewed as light versus Street expectations.
- Shares fell as much as about 10% Wednesday as analysts cut price targets, including RBC to $320 from $340, KeyBanc to $260 from $285, Stifel to $235 from $255, and Bernstein to $298 from $304.
- Leadership highlighted early traction from AI products contributing over 1.5 percentage points of annualized growth, the completed $1.1 billion Sana acquisition, and cross‑selling to lift revenue per seat as customer hiring stays muted.
- The 12‑month subscription backlog rose to roughly $8.21 billion, up 17.6% year over year, and Elliott Management disclosed a stake reported at over $2 billion, adding activist scrutiny.