Yahoo Finance

Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This release and the related shareholder letter and conference call include forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements regarding our revenue, non-GAAP net income (loss), shares outstanding and Adjusted EBITDA for our first quarter and full year fiscal 2026 and general expectations beyond that fiscal year; statements regarding the expected effects of our acquisition and integration of Hearsay Social, Inc. ("Hearsay") and KabanaSoft, LLC d/b/a Places Scout ("Places Scout"); and statements regarding our expectations regarding the growth of our company, our market opportunity, product roadmap, cost saving and efficiency actions, and our industry, including search fragmentation trends and the impact of Yext Scout. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "potential," "might," "would," "continue," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Actual events or results may differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, and these differences may be material and adverse.

We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this release and discussed on the call primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, strategy, short- and long-term business operations, prospects, business strategy and financial needs. Our actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to renew and expand subscriptions with existing customers, especially enterprise customers, and attract new customers generally; our ability to successfully expand and compete in new geographies and industry verticals; our ability to integrate Hearsay's and Places Scout's businesses with ours; our ability to retain personnel necessary for the success of our acquisition and integration of Hearsay and Places Scout; the quality of our sales pipeline and our ability to convert leads; our ability to expand and scale our sales force; our ability to expand our service and application provider network; our ability to develop or acquire new product and platform offerings to expand our market opportunity; our ability to release new products and updates that are adopted by our customers; weakened or changing global economic conditions, downturns, or uncertainty, including higher inflation, higher interest rates, and fluctuations or volatility in capital markets or foreign currency exchange rates; and the accuracy of the assumptions and estimates underlying our financial projections. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks and uncertainties emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. We cannot assure you that the results, events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur, and actual results, events or circumstances could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. All written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us, or persons acting on our behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements as well as other cautionary statements that are made from time to time in our SEC filings and public communications, including, without limitation, in the sections titled, "Special Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which are available at http://investors.yext.com and on the SEC's website at https://www.sec.gov.

The forward-looking statements made in this release relate only to events as of the date on which such statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date hereof or to conform such statements to actual results or revised expectations, except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Measurements
In addition to disclosing financial measures prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), this release and the accompanying tables include non-GAAP net income (loss), non-GAAP net income (loss) per share, and non-GAAP net income (loss) as a percentage of revenue, which are referred to as non-GAAP financial measures.

These non-GAAP financial measures are not calculated in accordance with GAAP as they have been adjusted to exclude the effects of stock-based compensation expenses, acquisition-related costs, and amortization of acquired intangibles. Acquisition-related costs include transaction and related costs, subsequent fair value movements in contingent consideration, and compensation arrangements. Non-GAAP net income (loss) as a percentage of revenue is calculated by dividing the applicable non-GAAP financial measure by revenue. Non-GAAP net income (loss) per share is defined as non-GAAP net income (loss) on a per share basis. We define non-GAAP net income (loss) per share, basic, as non-GAAP net income (loss) divided by weighted average shares outstanding and non-GAAP net income (loss) per share, diluted, as non-GAAP net income (loss) divided by weighted average diluted shares outstanding, which includes the potentially dilutive effect of the company’s employee equity incentive awards.

In addition, beginning in fiscal 2025, we are utilizing a projected tax rate of 25% in our computation of the non-GAAP income tax provision. Our estimated tax rate on non-GAAP income is determined annually and may be adjusted during the year to take into account events or trends that we believe materially impact the estimated annual rate including, but not limited to, significant changes resulting from tax legislation, material changes in the geographic mix of revenue and expenses and other significant events. Our estimated tax rate on non-GAAP income may differ from our GAAP tax rate and from our actual tax liabilities.

We believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide investors and other users of our financial information consistency and comparability with our past financial performance and facilitate period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations. With respect to non-GAAP net income (loss) as a percentage of revenue, we believe this non-GAAP financial measure is useful in evaluating our profitability relative to the amount of revenue generated, excluding the impact of stock-based compensation expense, acquisition-related costs, and amortization of acquired intangibles. We also believe non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating our operating performance compared to that of other companies in our industry, as these metrics eliminate the effects of stock-based compensation and certain acquisition-related costs, which may vary for reasons unrelated to overall operating performance.

We also discuss Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin, non-GAAP financial measures that we believe offer a useful view of overall operations used to assess the performance of core business operations and for planning purposes. We define Adjusted EBITDA as GAAP net income (loss) before (1) interest income (expense), net, (2) benefit from (provision for) income taxes, (3) depreciation and amortization, (4) other income (expense), net, (5) stock-based compensation expense, and (6) acquisition-related costs. The most directly comparable GAAP financial measure to Adjusted EBITDA is GAAP net income (loss). Users should consider the limitations of using Adjusted EBITDA, including the fact that this measure does not provide a complete measure of our operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to purport to be an alternate to GAAP net income (loss) as a measure of operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA by revenue.

Beginning with the three months ended July 31, 2024, we revised our definitions of Non-GAAP net income (loss) and Adjusted EBITDA to adjust for the effects of certain acquisition-related costs prompted by our recent acquisition of Hearsay. We believe these changes provide investors with a view of continuing core operations without the effects of unusual activity specific to acquisition-related accounting. These adjustments do not omit or adjust for the inclusion of ongoing operations of acquisitions.

We have recast our results on the same basis for the prior comparative periods presented, although the effects in those periods remain unchanged, as no such acquisition-related activity had occurred.

We use these non-GAAP financial measures in conjunction with traditional GAAP measures as part of our overall assessment of our performance, including the preparation of our annual operating budget and quarterly forecasts, and to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies. Our definition may differ from the definitions used by other companies and therefore comparability may be limited. In addition, other companies may not publish these or similar metrics. Thus, our non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, nor superior to or in isolation from, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

These non-GAAP financial measures may be limited in their usefulness because they do not present the full economic effect of our use of stock-based compensation and certain acquisition-related costs. We compensate for these limitations by providing investors and other users of our financial information a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measure to the most closely related GAAP financial measures. However, we have not reconciled the non-GAAP guidance measures to their corresponding GAAP measures because certain reconciling items such as stock-based compensation, certain acquisition-related costs, and the corresponding provision for income taxes depend on factors such as the stock price at the time of award of future grants, and certain purchase accounting adjustments including subsequent measurements, among others, and thus cannot be reasonably predicted. Accordingly, reconciliations to the non-GAAP guidance measures is not available without unreasonable effort. We encourage investors and others to review our financial information in its entirety, not to rely on any single financial measure and to view non-GAAP net income (loss) and non-GAAP net income (loss) per share in conjunction with GAAP net income (loss) and net income (loss) per share.

We have not reconciled our forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure of net income (loss). Information on which this reconciliation would be based on is not available without unreasonable efforts due to the uncertainty and inherent difficulty of predicting within a reasonable range, the timing, occurrence and financial impact of when such items may be recognized. In particular, Adjusted EBITDA excludes certain items including interest income (expense), net, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, other income (expense), net, stock-based compensation expense, and acquisition-related costs.

Operating Metrics
This release also includes certain operating metrics that we believe are useful in providing additional information in assessing the overall performance of our business.

Annual recurring revenue, or ARR, for Direct customers is defined as the annualized recurring amount of all contracts in our enterprise, mid-size and small business customer base as of the last day of the reporting period. The recurring amount of a contract is determined based upon the terms of a contract and is calculated by dividing the amount of a contract by the term of the contract and then annualizing such amount. The calculation assumes no subsequent changes to the existing subscription. Contracts include portions of professional services contracts that are recurring in nature.

ARR for Third-party Reseller customers is defined as the annualized recurring amount of all contracts with Third-party Reseller customers as of the last day of the reporting period. The recurring amount of a contract is determined based upon the terms of a contract and is calculated by dividing the amount of a contract by the term of the contract and then annualizing such amount. The calculation assumes no subsequent changes to the existing subscription. The calculation includes the annualized contractual minimum commitment and amounts related to usage above the contractual minimum commitment. Contracts include portions of professional services contracts that are recurring in nature.

Total ARR is defined as the annualized recurring amount of all contracts executed as of the last day of the reporting period. The recurring amount of a contract is determined based upon the terms of a contract and is calculated by dividing the amount of a contract by the term of the contract and then annualizing such amount. The calculation assumes no subsequent changes to the existing subscription, and where relevant, includes the annualized contractual minimum commitment and amounts related to usage above the contractual minimum commitment. Contracts include portions of professional services contracts that are recurring in nature.

We calculate usage by annualizing monthly amounts in excess of contractual minimum commitments in the current month.

Beginning in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, we refined our ARR methodology to include usage to align with management’s internal assessment of customers. Prior to that quarter, we had excluded what we previously referred to as overage. While this change may introduce additional volatility, we believe it provides a more comprehensive view of ARR that better aligns with the way we evaluate and manage our business.

ARR is independent of historical revenue, unearned revenue, remaining performance obligations or any other GAAP financial measure over any period. It should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, nor superior to or in isolation from, these measures and other measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. We believe ARR-based metrics provides insight into the performance of our recurring revenue business model while mitigating fluctuations in billing and contract terms.

In addition, we present ARR on a constant currency basis. Constant currency as it relates to ARR provides a framework for assessing Yext's performance which excludes the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. Contracts included in the determination of ARR in the current period are converted into USD at the exchange rates in effect at the end of the comparative period, as opposed to the exchange rates in effect at the end of the current period.

Dollar-based net retention rate is a metric we use to assess our ability to retain our customers and expand the ARR they generate for us. We calculate dollar-based net retention rate by first determining the ARR generated 12 months prior to the end of the current period for a cohort of customers who had active contracts at that time. We then calculate ARR from the same cohort of customers at the end of the current period, which includes customer expansion, contraction and churn. The current period ARR is then divided by the prior period ARR to arrive at our dollar-based net retention rate. Any ARR obtained through merger and acquisition transactions does not affect the dollar-based net retention rate until one year from the date on which the transaction closed. The cohorts of customers that we present dollar-based net retention rate for include direct, third-party reseller, and total customers. Direct customers include enterprise, mid-size and small business customers.

Beginning in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, we refined our ARR calculation methodology to include usage. This update resulted in a corresponding change in our dollar-based net retention rate which is based on ARR. While this change may introduce additional variability due to changes in customer usage, it provides a more comprehensive view of our dollar-based net retention rate.

 

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Contacts

For Further Information Contact:

Investor Relations:
IR@yext.com

Public Relations:
PR@yext.com