Workday stock shoots toward record high after earnings beat, guidance boost
Workday Inc. shares soared more than 12% toward a new record in after-hours trading Thursday following an earnings beat, forecast increase and announcement of a new co-CEO. Workday reported a second-quarter net loss of $28 million, or 12 cents a share, on sales of $1.06 billion, up from $888 million a year ago. After adjusting for stock-based compensation and other factors, the human-resources cloud-software company reported earnings of 84 cents a share, up from 44 cents a share in the same quarter the year before. "As a result of our strong Q2 performance, we are raising our fiscal 2021 subscription revenue guidance to a range of $3.73 billion to $3.74 billion," Chief Financial Officer Robynne Sisco said in Thursday's news release. Workday separately announced that Chano Fernandez had been promoted to co-CEO to pair with Aneel Bhusri, who has operated as sole CEO since his former co-CEO, co-founder David Duffield, departed daily operations to become chairman. Fernandez was previously co-president with Sisco, who will be the sole president and chief financial officer moving forward. Workday stock closed with a 1.4% gain at $216.63 Thursday, then shot higher than $240 in after-hours trades following the release of the report; Workday's all-time closing high is $224.30, established in July 2019.
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