Vertex, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERX) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Joshua Reilly: Got it. That’s helpful. And then while we know you left the EBITDA guidance unchanged, kind of per the normal kind of course of business for you guys after Q1, is there anything investors should be considering in terms of investments during the second half that need to be made for the balance of the year? Thanks guys.

David DeStefano: I think the continued focus is in the R&D space. We’ve talked about that. I’m really comfortable with how we’ve lined up our go-to-market team relative to demand cycles. So I think we’re well positioned there and we’re continuing to work through the implementation. We’re on the other side of our ERP implementation and we’re continuing to drive leverage through our G&A as we go forward.

Operator: Our next question comes from Adam Hotchkiss from Goldman Sachs. Adam, go ahead please.

Adam Hotchkiss: Great. Thanks for taking the questions. I guess, David, I’d be first curious to hear about the acceleration in revenue actually on the on-prem side. I think we all like to talk about cloud and the success there, but that channel was up for over 10% for the first time in a while. And I think we’ve been hearing that it’s been a bit of a differentiator for you as competitors step back from on-prem. So I’m just wondering, how you think about your continued support for customers that aren’t yet ready to, to move to cloud and how that’s driving more business and new relationships for you, if at all.

David DeStefano: Sure, sure. It’s a good question there, Adam. I think you know a few things. First of all, remember, we do lead cloud first in everything we do. All of our new logos, over 90-plus percent of all of our new logos remain cloud. But in that cross-sell market, which oftentimes is some of our largest historical customers, we’ve enjoyed long LTV with about 50% of the time they’re going to expand wallet share with more on-prem. So we remain exceptionally committed to that. And I think the other thing it’s really important to appreciate is what we say on-prem, the rally is most of that software is hosted in an individual cloud environment that the customer has, especially some of the largest customers. So we’re very committed to support that.

It is clearly a competitive differentiator. And as you may recall, we modified our pricing to align cloud and on-prem to be the same. So it’s actually turned out to be very successful when we can deliver that in terms of our gross margin and overall profitability.

Adam Hotchkiss: Okay, great. That’s really helpful. And then I’d be curious on the partner side, I know you’ve called out a number of large ones as drivers of success. But would you say there’s any one or two that have really outperformed your expectations heading into the year that you’re most excited about future drivers of growth for you?

David DeStefano: Obviously, we’ve highlighted a number of times the SAP and Oracle, but I’m really encouraged this year with the channel investments we made and the new offering we just rolled out around TCS inside of Microsoft. Some of our ecosystem relationships there I think are going to pay off well. And we’ve also seen really nice traction across both Shopify and NetSuite. Shopify was a newer partnership for us and we’ve seen some nice as their move up market has coincided well with the space that we lead in, it’s really working well for us.

Adam Hotchkiss: Okay. Really helpful. Thanks, David.

David DeStefano: Welcome.

Operator: Our next question comes from Brad Reback from Stifel. Brad, you may proceed.

Brad Reback: Great. Thanks very much. David, following up on that last comment on Shopify, can you maybe remind us how you price on the e-commerce side specifically and just broadly, given some of the weakness out there on consumer spending recently? Thanks.

David DeStefano: Yes, Brad, I’ll start. And what I would say is pricing is consistent from an e-commerce side as it is with the rest of our business. Again, we base it on revenue bands and we set that up in advance and bill in advance and recognize the revenue ratably. So that really hasn’t changed. So we kind of set it with where we expect the customer is going to operate and then we adjust from there.

Brad Reback: That’s great. And then on cloud specifically, obviously years off to a really good start there. But the absolute dollars that you need to add this year to get to the 28, somewhat higher than you’ve added historically. So maybe what informs the confidence on that 28? Thanks.

David DeStefano: Yes, I think again, everything we’re leading with continues to be the focus – cloud continues to be the focus, number one. And two, we brought out a number of new offerings as you know, over the past several years. And the fact that they’re all focused on the cloud just gives us more revenue opportunities to continue to drive cloud as our growth – as a key part of our growth going forward. So absolutely no change in our guidance there, pleased that it’s increased over 2023 overall and don’t see any reason to back off of that.

Brad Reback: Perfect. Thank you very much.

Operator: And our next question comes from Steve Enders from Citi. Steve, go ahead, please.

Unidentified Analyst: Hi, this is [indiscernible] on for Steve. Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Appreciate the comments on the update on e-invoicing and exploring some different opportunities potentially for the future. But maybe you just talk about what kind of volumes you’ve seen so far from the Pagero partnership and based on regulation timing when you expect the bulk of opportunities to come about?

David DeStefano: Yes, we don’t go into specifics on it. I will say in general, very comfortable with the way that the performance of the relationship is working still. I still think that we’re in the first or second inning of true e-invoice adoption because some of the larger economies in Europe haven’t moved yet. And so I think we’re in a very good position for what’s coming and opportunities to accelerate that as we move forward here in 2024, more importantly, probably 2025 is where you’ll see the real, I think, uptick there as companies start making that global decision and move away from point solutions. And that’s really what we’re positioned for.

Unidentified Analyst: Okay. That’s helpful. And then I think you made a comment about your own internal ERP migration, now being in the rearview mirror. Was there any kind of catch up in terms of cash collections or billings that impacted the quarter? And is it fair to say maybe any of those prior headwinds are now behind us?