Appian’s fourth quarter was marked by continued momentum in large enterprise deals and strong traction with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions. Management attributed performance to a significant increase in customers adopting advanced AI features, particularly through upgrades to higher subscription tiers. CEO Matthew Calkins noted that, “Much of our revenue, profit and pipeline growth in 2025 is a result of our synergy with AI,” highlighting successful customer use cases in regulated industries and government.
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Appian (APPN) Q4 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $202.9 million vs analyst estimates of $189.3 million (21.7% year-on-year growth, 7.2% beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $0.15 vs analyst estimates of $0.08 (91.5% beat)
- Adjusted Operating Income: $17.42 million vs analyst estimates of $9.06 million (8.6% margin, 92.3% beat)
- Revenue Guidance for Q1 CY2026 is $191 million at the midpoint, above analyst estimates of $188.3 million
- Adjusted EPS guidance for the upcoming financial year 2026 is $0.89 at the midpoint, beating analyst estimates by 15.6%
- EBITDA guidance for the upcoming financial year 2026 is $94 million at the midpoint, above analyst estimates of $86.56 million
- Operating Margin: -0.3%, down from 3% in the same quarter last year
- Net Revenue Retention Rate: 114%, up from 111% in the previous quarter
- Billings: $269.3 million at quarter end, up 19% year on year
- Market Capitalization: $1.95 billion
While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention.
Our Top 5 Analyst Questions From Appian’s Q4 Earnings Call
- Oscar Saavedra (Morgan Stanley) asked about confidence in the Q1 guidance acceleration. CFO Srdjan Tanjga explained it reflects strong Q4 new business and a temporary foreign exchange tailwind, with underlying momentum in cloud expansion.
- Raimo Lenschow (Barclays) questioned why Appian is positioned as the AI process control layer. CEO Matthew Calkins responded that Appian has a decade-long history governing digital workers and offers a unique governance and optimization layer, differentiating it from competitors.
- Steven Enders (Citi) inquired about changes in customer AI budgets and the resulting pipeline. Calkins said AI is an “unalloyed positive” that raises the strategic level of conversations and improves win rates, while Tanjga described how upsell opportunities expand as customers adopt advanced AI features.
- James Wood (TD Cowen) pressed on how Appian uses AI internally and the challenges LLM vendors face building orchestration layers. Calkins highlighted increased productivity and flexibility from internal AI use and argued that orchestration requires deep governance capabilities.
- Devin Au (KeyBanc Capital Markets) asked about conservatism in 2026 guidance. Tanjga clarified that the forecasting approach is consistent with prior years and that cloud revenue, being more predictable, anchors the outlook amid lumpier professional services and on-premises segments.
Catalysts in Upcoming Quarters
The StockStory team will be monitoring (1) continued upsell activity and adoption rates for Appian’s advanced AI tiers, (2) execution of new federal contracts and expansion of the Army enterprise agreement, and (3) the pace of investment in sales and engineering capacity relative to operational margin expansion. Monitoring cloud migration trends, especially among regulated and public sector clients, will also be crucial.
Appian currently trades at $26.32, up from $24.06 just before the earnings. In the wake of this quarter, is it a buy or sell? The answer lies in our full research report (it’s free).
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