Earnings Season Summary Q1 2024

Friends & Family Capital is pleased to share the Q1 2024 edition of “Seven Weeks in Seven Minutes”.
This resource is a summary of condensed and actionable insights on what you need to know from the last seven weeks of earnings announcements.
It is intended for our Founders, CFOs, and friends in the community.
See below for the overview slides from the quarter. The full presentation is available for download here.
We welcome your feedback to help shape the relevance for your business in future quarters.
Key theme for the quarter: “Macroeconomic Uncertainty Returns”
- Reversing Q4 optimism many companies cited increased macroeconomic uncertainty
- AI features remain a focus yet in some cases marketing outpaces early financial results
- Datacenter companies displayed continued strength in a generally difficult earnings season
- Cloud software with usage-based pricing models struggled with weaker consumption
- 60% of companies both beat estimates and had analysts raise estimates on revenue and EPS

Our public company universe includes 45 companies. We selected these businesses as leading business-to-business software companies plus the technology stalwarts. The customers served by these companies are also relevant for the Founders we help as they build companies in the private markets.

Market price moved up or down by 10% or more across several companies following their earnings.

Below are the top ten movers and bottom ten movers in the Q1 earnings season based on one-day share price reaction following their earnings announcement.

A timeless question of "Is it me? Or the market?" can be addressed through the commentary companies offer about their customers and go-to-market motion. We offer a few quotes below to help benchmark what you hear from account executives on your sales team.

The management teams of many companies cited macroeconomic uncertainty in both prepared remarks and Q&A. The renewed focus on economic headwinds drove conservative guidance across much of the coverage universe.

The full presentation is available for download here.