• Total Revenue: $690 million in Q3, a 15% increase year-over-year.
• Cloud Revenue: $500 million, a 24% increase year-over-year.
• Operating Income: $221 million, a 20% increase year-over-year.
• Operating Margin: 32%, an increase of 140 basis points.
• Earnings Per Share (EPS): $2.88, a 27% increase year-over-year.
• Operating Cash Flow: $159 million, a 32% increase year-over-year.
• Free Cash Flow Margin: Exceeded 25% over the last 12 months.
• Cloud Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR): Exceeds $2 billion.
• Recurring Revenue: Nearly 90% of total revenue.
• Customer Engagement Revenue: $578 million, a 16% increase year-over-year.
• Financial Crime and Compliance Revenue: $111 million, an 8% increase year-over-year.
• Cloud Gross Margin: 69.7% in Q3.
• Share Buyback: $86 million in Q3, part of a $500 million program.
• Total Cash and Investments: $1.527 billion at the end of September.
• Debt: $458 million, resulting in net cash and investments exceeding $1.068 billion.

• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Signs with DIS.

Release Date: November 14, 2024

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

• NICE Ltd (NASDAQ:NICE) reported a total revenue of $690 million in Q3, marking a 15% increase compared to the same quarter last year.
• Cloud revenue grew by 24% to $500 million, surpassing the $2 billion ARR mark, which is the highest cloud growth on the largest cloud revenue base in the industry.
• Operating income surged 20% to reach $221 million, with an operating margin climbing by 140 basis points to a record 32%.
• Earnings per share (EPS) increased by 27% over last year's same quarter, reaching $2.88 for Q3.
• NICE Ltd (NASDAQ:NICE) generated $159 million in operating cash, a 32% increase compared to Q3 last year, continuing the trend of accelerating cash flow.

Negative Points

• The transition to cloud is causing a decrease in services revenue, which was $150 million, representing a 6% year-over-year decline.
• The APAC region experienced a 12% decrease in revenue due to a larger amount of on-premise business with upfront recognition in the prior year.
• There is a noted delay in revenue recognition from large enterprise deals due to the complexity of AI deployments.
• Despite strong cloud growth, the cloud gross margin was slightly pressured due to significant investments in international expansion.
• The integration of LiveVox into NICE's CXone platform is ongoing, with performance as expected but not yet significantly contributing to revenue growth.

Q & A Highlights

Q: Could you elaborate on the revenue mechanics you're seeing in cloud, particularly regarding slower ramp-up? Is this customer-driven or due to revenue recognition dynamics? Also, how should cloud growth trend heading into next year? A: The slower ramp-up is not due to changes in accounting but rather the complexity of deploying large enterprise deals, especially with our AI solutions like Copilot and Autopilot. These deployments result in sticky customers with increased lifetime value. We are seeing an acceleration in cloud growth in Q4, with positive signs from October billings and activity.

Q: Are you seeing any changes in customer behavior regarding moving from on-prem to cloud, especially with AI considerations? A: We continue to win the higher end of the market, displacing over 100 legacy on-prem accounts this year. The trend is not just about moving to the cloud but also about automating customer service. Nearly 100% of these deals include our AI solutions, which accelerate the footprint and usage of our solutions.

Q: Can you provide insights into the longer implementation times for large deals? Are these older deals impacting the second half of the year? A: The longer implementation times are due to the complexity of large enterprise deals and the thoughtful deployment of our newer AI solutions. These deals are not necessarily older but reflect the complexity and scale of AI integration. Our LiveVox business is performing as expected and is increasingly integrated into our CXone platform.

Q: How has the ramp from booking to live production changed over time for cloud deals? What is the expected organic cloud growth rate to achieve long-term targets? A: The ramp time is influenced by the complexity of reengineering workflows and embedding AI, which takes longer but results in massive, long-term value. We have a significant backlog of CXone deals, indicating optimism for future growth. We expect an acceleration in cloud growth in Q4.

Q: What is the strategic value of the PlayBox acquisition, and what should we expect in terms of contribution? A: PlayBox was a technology tuck-in acquisition with a purchase price around $40 million. The revenue contribution is immaterial to our Q3 results. It enhances our technology stack but does not significantly impact our financials.

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.