Enterprise customer relationship management (CRM) software-as-a-service (SAAS) provider Freshworks Inc. NASDAQ: FRSH has integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into its suite of products. The company has over 60,000 business clients, including Blue Nile, Klarna, Travix and BEL USA. Companies use its tools to enhance the customer experience (CX) and bolster agent productivity through AI-powered assistants and automation. The company is a member of the Business Services sector, competing with Salesforce Inc. NYSE: CRM, Zendesk Inc. NYSE: ZEN and HubSpot Inc. NASDAQ: HUBS. According to its latest 13G filing, Alphabet Inc. NASDAQ: GOOGL Google still owns 4.04 million shares of FRSH.
Generative AI integration in the platform
Freshworks beefed up its AI capabilities in its latest quarter. The Customer Service Suite has generative AI embedded into the platform. It offers Freshdesk for customer engagement and Freshchat for AI-powered chatbots. Freshbots are AI-powered by Freddy Self-Service to handle up to 70% of conversations and leave customer service agents to handle more complex engagements. Freshsales and Freshmarketer are AI-powered sales and marketing automation tools to drive sales and productivity growth through multichannel marketing. The company's all-in-one solution combines bots, modern messaging, and ticketing.
Agents can access all customer interactions across channels on a unified platform, enabling them to personalize service on the fly and in real-time. Freddy Copilot is the AI-powered always-on assistant that can summarize events, suggest responses and recommend actions.
Squeezing juice out of the numbers
On October 31, 2023, Freshworks released its fiscal third-quarter 2023 results for the quarter ending September 2023. The company reported an earnings-per-share (EPS) profit of 8 cents versus consensus analyst estimates for a profit of 5 cents, a 3-cent beat. Net loss was $38.7 million or 11 cents per share. Revenues grew 19.3% YoY to $153.6 million, beating analyst estimates of $150.73 million. The free cash flow was $22.1 million, and the margin was 14% for the quarter. Subscription services rose to $150 million, up from $125.5 million in the year-ago period. Freshworks closed the quarter with $1.07 billion in cash and debt securities.
In-line guidance
Freshworks provided Q4 2023 EPS guidance of 4 cents to 6 cents versus 5 cents consensus analyst estimates. Revenues are expected between $156.7 million to $159.3 million versus $157.81 million analyst estimates. The number of customers with an ARR of over $5,000 is expected to grow 17% YoY. The net dollar retention rate is expected to be 108%. The company raised the full-year 2023 outlook midpoint for non-GAAP operating profit to $40 million.
CEO Insights
Freshworks CEO Girish Mathrubootham stated that Freshworks continues to reap benefits from three industry tailwinds: digital transformation, modern messaging, and AI breaking down silos. The company signed on 200 more Customer Service Suite customers from new and existing customers with higher levels of engagement with the AI-embedded product than just Freshchat by itself. He used an example of an adopter to the Customer Service Suite, Fastway Couriers in South Africa, which generates 16 million parcels annually. The company dropped its previous CX provider, which offered disjointed customer service across different channels, in favor of Freshworks. Now, the company's agents can better address issues with live and AI-powered automated chats and gain deep insights into ticket trends.
CEO Mathrubootham concluded, "In summary, Q3 innovation was centered around unlocking more productivity for our customers through AI-powered customer service, IT, and sales and marketing products. And we will continue building and offering richer insights to help businesses understand their customers and employees."
Freshworks analyst ratings and price targets are at MarketBeat. Freshworks peers and competitor stocks can be found with the MarketBeat stock screener.
Daily cup and handle attempt
The daily candlestick chart for FRSH illustrates a cup and handle attempt. The cup lip line formed a $21.30 gap down on September 13, 2023, as shares fell to a low of $16.86 on November 9, 2023. The daily 200-period moving average held as support, rising to $17.40. The daily market structure low (MSL) breakout triggered above $17.49 as shares formed a rounding bottom grinding up to test the cup lip line on December 1, 2023. FRSH rejected a breakout attempt and fell back down to $19.72 to start forming the handle.
The daily relative strength index (RSI) peaked just under the 70-band when FRSH retested the cup lip line at $21.30 and fell on the pullback. RSI is attempting to bounce through the 60-band as the handle attempts to form. Pullback support levels are at $36.87, $34.00, $32.23 and $31.06. Pullback support levels are at $19.72, $18.66, $17.49 daily MSL trigger and $16.86.
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