Cloudflare(US:NET)2025-02-06 23:00Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - Revenue for Q4 2024 was $459.9 million, representing a 27% year-over-year increase [6][31] - The number of large customers (those paying over $100,000 annually) increased by 27% year-over-year to 3,497 [6][32] - Gross margin was 77.6%, slightly down from the previous year [34] - Operating income was $67.2 million, a 69% increase year-over-year, with an operating margin of 14.6% [36] - Free cash flow for the quarter was $47.8 million, or 10% of revenue [37] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - Revenue contribution from large customers grew to 69% of total revenue, up from 66% in the same quarter last year [6][33] - The company saw a notable uptick in close rates and improvements in sales cycles during Q4 [10][30] - The number of active developers on the platform surpassed 3 million, indicating strong engagement with Cloudflare Workers and Workers.ai [10] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - The U.S. market represented 50% of total revenue, increasing by 23% year-over-year [31] - EMEA accounted for 28% of revenue, with a 27% year-over-year increase, while APAC represented 14% of revenue, growing by 39% year-over-year [31] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company aims to enhance its go-to-market execution, focusing on sales productivity and hiring enterprise account executives [12][14] - Cloudflare is positioning itself to capitalize on trends in security, AI, and modernization, which align with its strengths [9][11] - The company is committed to maintaining a unified network architecture while expanding its federal business [63][66] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management noted that customers are increasingly scrutinizing budgets and ensuring value for every dollar spent, but confidence is returning, particularly in the U.S. [8][9] - The company expects to see a reacceleration of growth in 2025, driven by improved sales capacity and productivity [14][39] - For Q1 2025, revenue is expected to be in the range of $468 million to $469 million, representing a 24% year-over-year increase [39] Other Important Information - The company ended Q4 with $1.86 billion in cash and equivalents, maintaining a strong balance sheet [37] - The shift from AI training to AI inference is expected to drive increased investment in GPU capacity [35] Q&A Session Summary Question: Inquiry about the impact of DeepSeq on inference workloads - Management acknowledged that DeepSeq has demonstrated significant optimizations in AI training costs, which could lead to more inference workloads moving to the edge [42][44] Question: Focus on product innovation and upcoming inflection points - Management expressed excitement about the company's ability to prove itself in go-to-market strategies and highlighted the importance of customer-focused product development [51][52] Question: Impact of pool of funds deals on revenue - Management indicated that pool of funds deals contributed approximately nine percentage points to revenue in Q4 and expressed confidence in their recognition as revenue throughout 2025 [57][58] Question: Update on FedRAMP High and government business - Management confirmed that the company is committed to maintaining a unified network while complying with FedRAMP High requirements, and noted growth in federal business both domestically and internationally [61][66] Question: Security performance and standout product categories - Management noted that large customers are increasingly adopting the full suite of Cloudflare products, indicating a shift towards a comprehensive platform approach [70][72]