Splunk Announces Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Financial Results

SAN FRANCISCO – March 2, 2022 – Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK), the data platform leader for security and observability, today announced results for its fiscal fourth quarter and full year ended January 31, 2022.

Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights

• Cloud ARR was $1.34 billion, up 65% year-over-year.
• Total ARR was $3.12 billion, up 32% year-over-year.
• Cloud revenue was $289 million, up 69% year-over-year.
• Total revenues were $901 million, up 21% year-over-year.
• 317 customers with cloud ARR greater than $1 million, up 70% year-over-year.
• 675 customers with total ARR greater than $1 million, up 32% year-over-year.

Full Year 2022 Financial Highlights

• Cloud revenue was $944 million, up 70% year-over-year.
• Total revenues were $2.67 billion, up 20% year-over-year.
• Operating cash flow was $128 million with free cash flow of $117 million.

“Q4 was an excellent finish to a strong year for Splunk,” said Graham Smith, interim CEO and chair of Splunk. “Our team delivered across our platform, observability and security businesses as organizations around the world turned to Splunk to monitor and secure their business-critical infrastructure and applications.” 

“We reached a significant milestone as we surpassed $3 billion in total ARR last year, with cloud revenue growing 70%,” said Jason Child, CFO of Splunk. “The impact of our business transformation on our financials is normalizing, and we’re well positioned for strong growth in revenue and cash flow.”

Leadership Changes

In a separate release issued today, Splunk announced the appointment of Gary Steele as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company’s Board of Directors, effective April 11, 2022. Graham Smith, who has served as Interim CEO since November 2021, will return to his role as Chair of the Splunk Board when Steele joins the company. In addition, Teresa Carlson, President and Chief Growth Officer, will be stepping down to pursue other career opportunities. 

Q4 2022 Business Highlights:

New, Expansion and Renewal Customers Include: Box, Inc., CVS Health, Fred Loya Insurance, Intel Corporation and Papa John’s International, Inc.

• Splunk Security Innovation: Splunk’s latest Enterprise Security release is now generally available and features enhanced threat detection with advanced security analytics, an executive summary dashboard, and a new user experience.
• Splunk Observability Enhancements: Splunk Application Performance Monitoring (APM)’s AlwaysOn Profiling is now generally available with continuous visibility of code-level performance, a new AutoDetect feature with out-of-the-box detectors and alerts to help users get started in minutes as well as Log Observer Connect functionality that allows users to explore the data already being sent to existing Splunk instances. 
• Splunk Joins the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative: This industry-government partnership focuses on planning, threat analysis and defensive operations to combat cyberthreats. 
• Splunk Wins Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) Award: Splunk SOAR won the NAVWAR’s Artificial Intelligence Applications to Autonomous Cybersecurity Challenge (AI ATAC) series at the U.S. Navy-hosted HACKtheMACHINE Unmanned event.
• Splunk Announces Net Zero Commitment and Releases 2021 Global Impact Report: Splunk revealed its intent to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and released its 2021 Global Impact Report to detail its approach and engagement with the societal and environmental issues that matter most to its stakeholders and business.

Financial Outlook

The company is providing the following guidance for its fiscal first quarter 2023 (ending April 30, 2022):

• Total revenues are expected to be between $615 million and $635 million.
• Non-GAAP operating margin is expected to be between negative 20% and negative 25%.

The company is providing the following guidance for its fiscal year 2023 (ending January 31, 2023):

• Cloud ARR is expected to be at least $2 billion. 
• Total ARR is expected to be approximately $3.9 billion.
• Total revenues are expected to be between $3.25 billion and $3.3 billion.
• Non-GAAP operating margin is expected to be between 0% and 2%.
• Operating cash flow is expected to be at least $400 million.

Conference Call and Webcast

Splunk’s executive management team will host a conference call beginning at 1:30 p.m. PT (4:30 p.m. ET) to discuss financial results and business highlights. Interested parties may access the call by dialing (866) 501-1535 in the U.S. or (216) 672-5582 from international locations. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available through Splunk’s Investor Relations website at http://investors.splunk.com/events-presentations. A replay of the call will be available through March 9, 2022 by dialing (855) 859-2056 and referencing Conference ID 2073649.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding Splunk’s guidance for revenue and non-GAAP operating margin targets for the company’s fiscal first quarter 2023, and cloud ARR, total ARR, revenue, non-GAAP operating margin and operating cash flow for the company’s fiscal year 2023; statements regarding our market opportunity, including trends in the pace of customer digital and cloud transformation; our global presence and trends in customer demand and engagement; the growth of our cloud business; the market for data-related products and the importance of data and our ability to leverage these trends; our strategy, technology and product innovation; expectations for our industry, business and products, such as our business model, customer demand and trust, our partner relationships, customer success and feedback, expanding use of Splunk by customers, and expected benefits and scale of our products. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this press release, including: risks associated with Splunk’s rapid growth, particularly outside of the United States; Splunk’s inability to realize value from its significant investments in the company’s business, including product and service innovations and through acquisitions; Splunk’s shift from sales of licenses to sales of cloud services which impacts the timing of revenue and margins; a shift from generally invoicing multi-year contracts upfront to invoicing on an annual basis, which impacts cash collections; Splunk’s transition to a multi-product software and services business; Splunk’s inability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and technologies; Splunk’s inability to service its debt obligations or other adverse effects related to the company’s convertible notes; the emergence and impact of new COVID-19 variants and related public health measures on our business, as well as the impact of new variants on the overall economic environment, including customer buying capacity, urgency and patterns; and general market, political, economic, business and competitive market conditions.

Additional information on potential factors that could affect Splunk’s financial results is included in the company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2021, which is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Splunk’s other filings with the SEC. Splunk does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

Splunk Inc.

Operating Metrics

Total Annual Recurring Revenue (“Total ARR”) represents the annualized revenue run-rate of active subscription, term license, and maintenance contracts at the end of a reporting period. Cloud Annual Recurring Revenue (“Cloud ARR”) represents the annualized revenue run-rate of active subscription contracts at the end of a reporting period. Contracts are annualized by dividing the total contract value by the number of days in the contract term and then multiplying by 365.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Reconciliations

To supplement Splunk’s condensed consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”), Splunk provides investors with the following non-GAAP financial measures: cloud services cost of revenues, cloud services gross margin, cost of revenues, gross margin, research and development expense, sales and marketing expense, general and administrative expense, operating income (loss), operating margin, income tax provision (benefit), net income (loss), net income (loss) per share and free cash flow (collectively the “non-GAAP financial measures”). These non-GAAP financial measures exclude all or a combination of the following (as reflected in the following reconciliation tables): expenses related to stock-based compensation and related employer payroll tax, amortization of intangible assets, restructuring and facility exit charges, acquisition-related adjustments, capitalized software development costs, a legal settlement charge, non-cash interest expense related to convertible senior notes, a gain on extinguishment of convertible senior notes and a strategic investment impairment. The non-GAAP financial measures are also adjusted for Splunk's estimated tax rate on non-GAAP income (loss). To determine the estimated non-GAAP tax rate, Splunk evaluates financial projections based on its non-GAAP results and the tax effect of those projections. The estimated non-GAAP tax rate takes into account many factors including our operating structure and tax positions. The non-GAAP tax rate applied to the three and twelve months ended January 31, 2021 was 20%. The applicable fiscal 2020 tax rates are noted in the reconciliations. In addition, non-GAAP financial measures include free cash flow, which represents operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment. Splunk considers free cash flow to be a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors about the amount of cash generated or used by the business.

Splunk excludes stock-based compensation expense because it is non-cash in nature and excluding this expense provides meaningful supplemental information regarding Splunk’s operational performance and allows investors the ability to make more meaningful comparisons between Splunk’s operating results and those of other companies. Splunk excludes employer payroll tax expense related to employee stock plans in order for investors to see the full effect that excluding that stock-based compensation expense had on Splunk’s operating results. These expenses are tied to the exercise or vesting of underlying equity awards and the price of Splunk’s common stock at the time of vesting or exercise, which may vary from period to period independent of the operating performance of Splunk’s business. Splunk also excludes amortization of intangible assets, restructuring and facility exit charges, acquisition-related adjustments, capitalized software development costs, a legal settlement charge, non-cash interest expense related to convertible senior notes, a gain on extinguishment of convertible senior notes and a strategic investment impairment from the applicable non-GAAP financial measures because these adjustments are considered by management to be outside of Splunk’s core operating results.

There are limitations in using non-GAAP financial measures because the non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by Splunk’s competitors and exclude expenses that may have a material impact upon Splunk’s reported financial results. Further, stock-based compensation expense has been and will continue to be, for the foreseeable future, a significant recurring expense in Splunk’s business and an important part of the compensation provided to Splunk’s employees. The presentation of the non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. Splunk uses these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision-making purposes and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. Splunk believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information about Splunk’s operating results, enhance the overall understanding of past financial performance and future prospects and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision making. In addition, these non-GAAP financial measures facilitate comparisons to competitors’ operating results. The non-GAAP financial measures are meant to supplement and be viewed in conjunction with GAAP financial measures.

The following tables reconcile Splunk’s GAAP results to Splunk’s non-GAAP results included in this press release.