      cloudedjudgement.substack.com · 2020-06-16
      · 2179d
    

Clouded Judgement: A Look Back at Q1 Public SaaS Earnings

This article provides a comprehensive data-driven analysis of Q1 2020 earnings for 54 public cloud/SaaS companies, evaluating performance across five key metrics: revenue beats vs. consensus, forward guidance raises, year-over-year growth, net revenue retention, and CAC payback efficiency. The author identifies Datadog and Zoom as elite performers excelling across all metrics and contextualizes the strong SaaS performance during COVID-19 within broader capital rotation, predictable revenue models, and attractive unit economics.

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Metrics in this report

Gross Margin Adjusted CAC Payback

12months

best-in-class

Private SaaS companies

Gross Margin Adjusted CAC Payback

24months

good

Private SaaS companies (upper bound)

Gross Margin Adjusted CAC Payback

22months

median

Public SaaS companies Q1 2020

Net Revenue Retention (Enterprise SaaS)

130percent

best-in-class

Enterprise-focused SaaS companies

Net Revenue Retention (Enterprise SaaS)

115percent

good

Enterprise-focused SaaS companies (lower bound)

Net Revenue Retention (SMB SaaS)

120percent

best-in-class

SMB-focused SaaS companies like Bill.com

Revenue Consensus Beat

3.9percent

median

Public cloud businesses Q1 2020

Revenue Multiple (NTM)

12times

median

Cloud/SaaS businesses in Q1 2020

Year-over-Year Growth Rate

31percent

median

Public cloud businesses Q1 2020