Why Appian (APPN) Stock Is Trading Lower Today

What Happened:

Shares of low code software development platform provider Appian (Nasdaq: APPN) fell 15.9% in the afternoon session after the company reported second-quarter earnings results. Its revenue guidance for the next quarter and full-year missed Wall Street's estimates. EPS also fell short of consensus estimates. Though, the company highlighted the decision to focus more on large transactions and verticals with better ROI. Overall, this was a mediocre quarter for Appian.

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What is the market telling us:

Appian's shares are very volatile and over the last year have had 19 moves greater than 5%. But moves this big are very rare even for Appian and that is indicating to us that this news had a significant impact on the market's perception of the business. 

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 3 months ago, when the stock dropped 23.1% on the news that the company reported first-quarter results with revenue guidance for the next quarter, missing analysts' expectations, while full-year revenue guidance was roughly in line. While revenue beat slightly, billings (often analyzed in addition to revenue because it's cash in the door rather than recognized revenue dictated by accounting rules) missed Wall Street's estimates. Overall, this was a weaker quarter for Appian.

Appian is down 12.7% since the beginning of the year, and at $30.66 per share it is trading 41.1% below its 52-week high of $52.04 from September 2023. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Appian's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $795.85.

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