PTC reported financial results for its fourth fiscal quarter and full year ended September 30, 2023.
“In our fourth fiscal quarter, we again delivered solid ARR and cash flow results. We reported ARR growth of 26%, organic ARR growth of 15%, and organic constant currency ARR growth of 13%. Our ServiceMax® business contributed an additional 11 points of ARR growth, taking constant currency ARR growth to 23%. Our operating cash flow was $50 million in Q4, up 29% year over year, and $611 million in FY’23, up 40%. Our free cash flow was $44 million in Q4, up 52% year over year, and $587 million in FY’23, up 41%,” said James Heppelmann, CEO, PTC.
“Our differentiated product portfolio and our industry-leading SaaS capabilities align well to the manufacturing industry’s push for digital transformation. On a constant currency basis, Creo and Windchill ARR continued to grow at a double-digit pace, growing 10% and 16% respectively; ServiceMax ended fiscal 2023 at the $170 million of ARR we guided to previously; and our Codebeamer ARR has more than doubled since we acquired the business six quarters ago. Our strong market position and solid execution, coupled with our subscription model, position PTC to continue delivering durable and consistent ARR and cash flow growth,” concluded Heppelmann.
Fiscal 2024 Guidance and Mid-Term Targets
“Despite a challenging backdrop, our financial results in FY’23 were solid, driven by the resilience of our business model, consistent execution, operational discipline, and the actions we have taken to align our investments with our growth opportunities. Our Q4’23 ARR was slightly below the mid-point of our guidance range, as we had lower in-year starts and ended the year with more deferred ARR than we had modeled. At the start of FY’24, deferred ARR with contractually committed start dates over the next 12 months was approximately $20 million higher than at the start of FY’23. Given that, we are raising the low end of our previously communicated ARR growth range and establishing a FY’24 ARR guidance range of 11% to 14%. We continue to expect approximately $725 million of free cash flow in FY’24,” said Kristian Talvitie, CFO, PTC.
Neil Barua, CEO-elect, added, “We continue to target mid-teens growth over the medium term. While the macroeconomic environment could impact any given period, we believe our differentiated product portfolio and market position put us in a good position to drive sustainable top line growth. Given the stability of our subscription license model, we expect non-GAAP operating expense growth at roughly 50% of ARR growth over the medium term, as we continue to invest in our product portfolio. In terms of free cash flow, we are providing targets through FY’26 that represent a three-year CAGR of approximately 20%.”
FY’24 financial guidance and mid-term targets include the following assumptions:
- We provide ARR guidance on a constant currency basis, using our FY’24 Plan foreign exchange rates (rates as of September 30, 2023) for all periods.
- We expect churn to remain low.
- For cash flow, due to invoicing seasonality, and consistent with the past 3 years, we expect the majority of our collections to occur in the first half of our fiscal year and for fiscal Q4 to be our lowest cash flow generation quarter.
- Compared to FY’23, at the midpoint of FY’24 ARR guidance, FY’24 GAAP operating expenses are expected to increase approximately 3% to 4%, and FY’24 non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to increase approximately 6% to 7%, primarily due to investments to drive future growth and the acquisition of ServiceMax.
- FY’24 GAAP P&L results are expected to include the items below, totaling approximately $283 million to $313 million, as well as their related tax effects:
- approximately $200 million to $230 million of stock-based compensation expense,
- approximately $82 million of intangible asset amortization expense, and
- approximately $1 million of acquisition and transaction-related expense.
- Our FY’24 GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates are expected to be approximately 20%.
- Cash taxes are expected to increase approximately $15 million in FY’24, and approximately $60 million in both FY’25 and FY’26.
- Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $20 million in FY’24, and approximately $25 million in FY’25 and FY’26.
- Interest payments are expected to be approximately $135 million in FY’24.
- Our long-term goal, assuming our Debt/EBITDA ratio is below 3x, is to return approximately 50% of our free cash flow to shareholders via share repurchases, while also taking into consideration the interest rate environment and strategic opportunities.
- We expect to prioritize paying down our debt in FY’24.
- We expect gross debt of approximately $1.7 billion at the end of FY’24.
- We expect our fully diluted share count to increase by approximately 1 million in FY’24.
PTC’s Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call to discuss results at 5:00 pm ET on Wednesday, November 1, 2023. To participate in the live conference call, dial (888) 330-2508 or (240) 789-2735 and provide the passcode 7328695, or log in to the webcast, available on PTC’s Investor Relations website. A replay will also be available.
