rewrite this title and make it good for SEONice raises EPS guidance but stock slides

Earlier this year, when it released its fourth quarter 2024 financials, technology company Nice (TASE: NICE; Nasdaq: NICE) provided annual guidance that disappointed investors, and its share price fell sharply. Now, Nice has left its annual revenue guidance unchanged, but raised its guidance for net profit.

Nice, which since the beginning of this year has been headed by Scott Russell (who replaced Barak Eilam, who stepped down after a decade as CEO), provides customer relations management and risk management solutions. The company expects non-GAAP earnings per share for the year of $12.28-12.48, which compares with previous guidance of $12.13-12.33. The revenue guidance remains at $2.918-2.938 billion. For the second quarter, the guidance is close to analysts’ estimates, at $709-719 million revenue (7% growth) and earnings per share of $2.93-3.03.

RELATED ARTICLES

In the first quarter, Nice beat the consensus analysts’ estimate. Revenue grew by 6.2% to $700 million. GAAP-based net profit grew by 21.5% to $129 million, and non-GAAP net profit grew by 7.9% to $185 million, or $2.87 per share.

“We’re pleased to report another strong quarter. Cloud revenue grew 12% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, powering continued profitability, including a further expansion in operating margin and a double-digit increase in earnings per share,” Russell said. “We also delivered record quarterly cash flow in the first quarter, with cash from operations rising to $285 million-a 12% year-over-year increase. Our industry-leading financial profile continues to differentiate us from competitors, giving us excellent financial flexibility to invest strategically to accelerate our long-term growth.” He added that “our AI and self-service revenue increased 39% year over year.”

Most analysts positive on the stock

At the end of the second quarter, Nice had $1.6 billion cash, versus debt of $459 million. The company has announced a share buyback program amounting to $500 million. Nice’s share price is flat for the year to date, and has fallen 25.7% in the past twelve months, for various reasons, among them Eilam’s departure, and fears of competition and the impact of AI. The company’s market cap on Nasdaq and in Tel Aviv is $10.7 billion. At the peak, in 2021, it had a market cap of $20 billion.

According to “The Wall Street Journal”, nineteen analysts cover Nice, and most of them give the company a positive rating. Fourteen have “Buy”/”Outperform” ratings, five are neutral, and none recommends “Sell.” Their price targets range from $153 to $300 (in 2021, the share price went above $300), the average being $202, representing a 19% premium over the current price on Nasdaq.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 15, 2025.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.