Clouded Judgement
Cloud software companies demonstrated exceptional earnings growth in late 2021, with AWS and Azure accelerating to 39% and 48% YoY growth respectively, while a cohort of 20+ public SaaS companies beat consensus on revenue and forward guidance. The median public SaaS company trades at 16.1x NTM revenue with significant valuation variance based on growth rates (high-growth median 30.8x vs. low-growth median 7.1x), supported by strong unit economics including 74% gross margins and 119% net revenue retention.
Metrics in this report
39percent YoY
October 2021, accelerating from 37%
64billion dollars
October 2021, Amazon Web Services
48percent YoY
October 2021, accelerating from 45%
35-40billion dollars
October 2021, Microsoft Azure
25months
median
Public SaaS companies
6percent
median
Public SaaS companies
19percent of revenue
median
Public SaaS companies
74percent
median
Public SaaS companies
32percent
median
Public SaaS companies
24percent
median
Public SaaS companies
119percent
median
Public SaaS companies
-16percent
median
Public SaaS companies
26percent of revenue
median
Public SaaS companies
16.1multiple
median
Public SaaS companies overall
30.8multiple
median
High-growth SaaS (>30% projected NTM growth)
14.5multiple
median
Mid-growth SaaS (15-30% projected NTM growth)
7.1multiple
median
Low-growth SaaS (<15% projected NTM growth)
44percent of revenue
median
Public SaaS companies
57.3multiple
average
Top 10 highest-valued public SaaS companies by revenue multiple
53.0multiple
median
Top 10 highest-valued public SaaS companies by revenue multiple