cloudedjudgement.substack.com · 2020-12-04 · 2008d

Clouded Judgement

Weekly SaaS valuation and earnings analysis covering 14 companies with detailed revenue beat/miss data, multiple expansion trends, and operating metrics benchmarking. The article highlights a significant increase in SaaS valuation multiples (median 16.7x NTM revenue, up from 12.2x one-year trailing average) driven by high-growth companies commanding 33.3x multiples, while also reporting major M&A activity including Salesforce's $27.7B acquisition of Slack.

17 metrics· Cited 0× in the knowledge base ·Open source ↗

Metrics in this report

CAC Payback Period

24months

median

Public SaaS companies

EV/NTM Revenue Multiple

16.7x

median

Public SaaS cohort as of December 2020

EV/NTM Revenue Multiple

33.3x

median

High-growth SaaS (>30% NTM growth)

EV/NTM Revenue Multiple

17.9x

median

Mid-growth SaaS (15-30% NTM growth)

EV/NTM Revenue Multiple

6.7x

median

Low-growth SaaS (<15% NTM growth)

EV/NTM Revenue Multiple

98.3x

best-in-class

Snowflake (highest valuation in cohort)

EV/NTM Revenue Multiple

15.2x

average

3-month trailing average

EV/NTM Revenue Multiple

12.2x

average

1-year trailing average

Free Cash Flow Margin

5percent

median

Public SaaS companies

G&A Spend

18percent

median

Percentage of SaaS revenue

Gross Margin

74percent

median

Public SaaS companies

LTM Revenue Growth Rate

31percent

median

Public SaaS companies

NTM Revenue Growth Rate

20percent

median

Public SaaS companies

Net Revenue Retention

116percent

median

Public SaaS companies

Operating Margin

-16percent

median

Public SaaS companies

R&D Spend

25percent

median

Percentage of SaaS revenue

Sales & Marketing Spend

45percent

median

Percentage of SaaS revenue