Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.04, FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $202.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.33 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Appian updated its FY 2026 guidance to 0.820-0.960 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance to 0.160-0.200 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Appian’s conference call:

• Appian says AI usage on its platform grew 14x year?over?year and is monetizing that demand — customers are upgrading to an Appian AI license (average ~25% price increase) and multiple seven?figure deals were driven by AI features like Doc Center.
• Financials and cash generation improved — Q4 revenue was $202.9M (+22% YoY), full?year adjusted EBITDA margin reached 11% with $63M of operating cash flow, and the company announced a $50M stock buyback.
• Enterprise and public?sector traction strengthened — customers with >$1M ARR rose 50% to 140, and the U.S. Army awarded Appian a $500M enterprise license agreement over 10 years.
• 2026 guidance calls for cloud subscription revenue of $502–510M (~16% YoY at midpoint), total revenue of $801–817M (~11% YoY), and adjusted EBITDA of $89–99M (~12% margin), while the company plans modest reinvestment in sales and engineering.
• Margin and mix headwinds and reporting changes — non?GAAP gross margin declined to 73% (from 77% a year ago), professional services gross margin fell, Q4 operating cash was just $1.1M, and the company reclassified expenses and changed customer definitions which may affect comparability.

Appian Price Performance

NASDAQ APPN traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $24.18. 1,587,091 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,174,994. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.43. Appian has a 12-month low of $21.77 and a 12-month high of $46.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -241.49 and a beta of 0.90.

Appian News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Appian this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — Appian reported $0.15 EPS (vs. Zacks $0.09 / consensus ~$0.11) and revenue of $202.9M, a 21.7% YoY increase. This fundamental beat is the main positive catalyst. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company raised guidance — Appian issued Q1 FY2026 EPS guidance of $0.160–0.200 (above consensus) and FY2026 EPS guidance of $0.820–0.960 (well above street). Revenue guidance was also raised vs. consensus — a material forward-looking bullish signal. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Subscription growth supports recurring revenue — Q4 cloud subscriptions revenue rose 18% YoY to $117.0M and full?year cloud subscriptions were up 19% to $437.4M, strengthening the recurring revenue story. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company provided conference call and investor materials — management hosted a call and published a slide deck for details; useful for digging into margin drivers and customer metrics but neutral until specifics move consensus. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Pre-earnings coverage and outlook commentary circulated (MSN, Benzinga, Zacks previews) — background reading available but not new drivers vs. results. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Street still shows caution — average sell?side forecasts previously implied a negative EPS for the current fiscal year (consensus ~?0.28 prior to updated guidance), indicating some analysts may take time to revise models upward; lingering skepticism could limit sustained rallies.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/valuation headwinds — the stock remains below its 50- and 200-day moving averages and is well off its 1-year high; short?term profit taking or rotation into other names may keep upward momentum in check.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest data reported appears anomalous and provides no clear signal to explain intraday moves (reported values show zeros/NaN).

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Appian

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Appian by 693.4% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 846 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Appian in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Appian during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of Appian by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 519 shares during the period. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Appian in the third quarter worth about $75,000. Institutional investors own 52.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on APPN shares. Barclays reduced their target price on Appian from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Appian from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Appian in a research note on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Appian in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Appian from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.40.

About Appian

Appian Corporation is a global technology company specializing in low-code automation platforms designed to streamline business processes. Founded in 1999 by Matt Calkins, the company provides an integrated suite of tools that enables organizations to build enterprise applications and workflows rapidly with minimal hand coding. The platform combines process management, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and data integration into a single environment, allowing businesses to accelerate digital transformation initiatives.

The core offering, the Appian Low-Code Platform, empowers users—ranging from professional developers to business analysts—to visually model, design and deploy applications that can automate complex operations, orchestrate tasks across systems, and deliver real-time analytics.