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Highlights
- Darktrace’s journey has been quite bumpy since it got listed on the LSE.
- Darktrace shares surged as it lifts its 2022 outlook with a higher revenue and earnings margin.
- After getting listed on the LSE in April 2021, the shares of the company initially surged by over 300% in the first four months before falling.
Leading cyber security AI firm Darktrace, which got listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 2021, witnessed a rough Wednesday after a spike in its shares on Tuesday as the group lifted its outlook.
© 2022 Kalkine Media®
Darktrace trading update and performance
On 11 January 2022, British-American cyber security firm Darktrace released its trading update for the six months ended 31 December 2021. At the end of 2021 with 6,531 customers, the group reported a 39.6% growth in its customers base year-on-year, accompanied by at least 50% growth in revenue. Additionally, the ARR (annualised recurring revenue) churn, which shows the number of customers moving away from the service per year, went down to 6.9% in the second half of 2021 from 7.6% in the first half of the year.
After getting listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in April 2021, the shares of the company initially surged by over 300% in the first four months before falling. Darktrace has seen many ups and downs after its listing, and despite its shares plummeting by around 55% on Wednesday since September end, its shares have gone up by 34% since its IPO.
However, the added value doesn’t compensate for the recent decline in its share prices, which shows the lost confidence of the investors in the cybersecurity firm.
On Tuesday, Darktrace shares surged again after the release of its above-mentioned trading update. The share price of the company went up by 25% at a point after it released the 2022 forecast for increased revenue and earnings margin. At around 10AM (GMT) on 11 January, Darktrace plc’s (LON: DARK) shares were trading at 454p, which is significantly higher than its listing price of 250p. The market cap of the FTSE250-listed company stood at £2,941.20 million and its shares closed at 443.40p, up by 5.07%, as of 12 January 2022.
RELATED READ: Darktrace (DARK) & Kape: 2 cybersecurity stocks to buy
About Darktrace and its 2022 outlook
Darktrace is a cybersecurity firm that is a global leader in Autonomous Cyber AI that disrupts the progressing cyber-attacks in seconds. These cyber-attacks may include email phishing, ransomware, as well as attacks on critical infrastructure, and threats to cloud environments. More than 6,500 organisations across the globe rely on Darktrace to carry on their business in a safe manner without any cyber disruptions. The technologies used by Darktrace to safeguard customers’ interests include self-learning AI, Autonomous Response, and Intelligence Augmentation.
According to Darktrace’s CEO Poppy Gustafsson, the company has performed well recently by removing the hiring freeze imposed at the arrival of the pandemic, as it helped in the growth of its sales team, which in turn led to higher sales to existing customers and addition of new customers.
© 2022 Kalkine Media®
Darktrace is anticipating its 2022 ARR to go up from the earlier guidance of 34%-36% to somewhere between 37%-38.5%. Also, it is anticipating that its earning margin’s guidance to go up from the range of 2%-5% to 3%-6%. Revenue for the first half of the year ending in December 2021 is set to grow at by least 50% organically, touching US$190 million.
RELATED READ: How cybercrime cases increased post pandemic?
Bottomline
Darktrace’s journey has been quite bumpy since it got listed on the LSE. Even though the cybersecurity firm has faced many ups and downs, it has huge growth potential as the cybersecurity industry is witnessing a double-digit annual growth rate lately. The 2022 outlook of the company looks bright as of now.
