Q1 Data Storage Earnings Review: First Prize Goes to MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB)

As Q1 earnings season comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of the best and worst performers amongst the data storage stocks, including MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB) and its peers.

Data is the lifeblood of the internet and software in general, and the amount of data created is growing at an accelerating pace. Likewise, the importance of storing the data in scalable and efficient formats continues to rise, especially as the diversity of the data and associated use cases expand from analyzing simple, structured data to high-scale processing of unstructured data, images, audio and video.

The 5 data storage stocks we track reported a mixed Q1; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 3.1%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 1.29% above consensus. Tech stocks have been under pressure as inflation makes their long-dated profits less valuable, but data storage stocks held their ground better than others, with the share prices up 7.8% since the previous earnings results, on average.

Best Q1: MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB)

Started in 2007 by the team behind Google’s ad platform DoubleClick, MongoDB offers database-as-a-service that helps companies store large volumes of semi-structured data.

MongoDB reported revenues of $368.3 million, up 29% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 6.12%. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with very optimistic guidance for the next quarter and a solid beat of analyst estimates.

"MongoDB began fiscal 2024 with strong first quarter results, highlighted by 40% Atlas revenue growth and the most net new customer additions in over two years. The continued strength in new business activity indicates the mission criticality of the MongoDB developer data platform and underscores that investments in innovation remain a top priority for customers," said Dev Ittycheria, President and Chief Executive Officer of MongoDB.

MongoDB scored the strongest analyst estimates beat and highest full year guidance raise of the whole group. The company added 110 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to a total of 1,761. The stock is up 31.3% since the results and currently trades at $386.6.

Is now the time to buy MongoDB? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW)

Founded in 2013 by three French engineers who spent decades working for Oracle, Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) provides a data warehouse-as-a-service in the cloud that allows companies to store large amounts of data and analyze it in real time.

Snowflake reported revenues of $623.6 million, up 47.6% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.4%. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a meaningful improvement in gross margin but a decline in net revenue retention rate.

Snowflake delivered the fastest revenue growth among its peers. The company added 43 enterprise customers paying more than $1m annually to a total of 373. The stock is down 0.3% since the results and currently trades at $176.52.

Is now the time to buy Snowflake? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Slowest Q1: Commvault Systems (NASDAQ:CVLT)

Originally formed in 1988 as part of Bell Labs, Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT) provides enterprise software used for data backup and recovery, cloud and infrastructure management, retention and compliance.

Commvault Systems reported revenues of $203.5 million, down 1.2% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 3.29%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with decelerating growth in large customers.

Commvault Systems had the slowest revenue growth in the group. The company lost 19 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually and ended up with a total of 187. The stock is up 23% since the results and currently trades at $71.76.

Read our full analysis of Commvault Systems's results here.

DigitalOcean (NYSE:DOCN)

Started by brothers Ben and Moisey Uretsky, DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN) provides a simple, low-cost platform that allows developers and small and medium sized businesses to host applications and data in the cloud.

DigitalOcean reported revenues of $165.1 million, up 29.7% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with a decline in gross margin and net revenue retention rate. On a brighter note, revenue guidance for the next quarter came in roughly inline with analysts' estimates, and the full year revenue guidance came in above consensus.

DigitalOcean had the weakest performance against analyst estimates among the peers. The stock is up 17.1% since the results and currently trades at $38.92.

Read our full, actionable report on DigitalOcean here, it's free.

Couchbase (NASDAQ:BASE)

Formed in 2011 with the merger of Membase and CouchOne, Couchbase (NASDAQ:BASE) is a database as a service platform that allows enterprises to store large volumes of semi-structured data.

Couchbase reported revenues of $41 million, up 17.6% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 3.08%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter. In addition, RPO (remaining performance obligation - leading indicator of revenue) and cRPO growth decelerated meaningfully, and gross margin deteriorated.

Couchbase had the weakest full year guidance update among the peers. The stock is down 32.2% since the results and currently trades at $15.07.

Read our full, actionable report on Couchbase here, it's free.

The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned