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Pluralsight Announces Third Quarter 2019 Results

October 30, 2019 4:02 PM

SILICON SLOPES, Utah , Oct. 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pluralsight, Inc. (NASDAQ: PS), the enterprise technology skills company, today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019.

“We had a solid quarter and improved many of our growth metrics demonstrating that the operational improvements we put into motion at the beginning of the quarter are working. I’m happy with the progress we made in the quarter, and recognize we still have work to do,” said Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight. “B2B billings grew 32%, total billings grew 28%, revenue grew 34% and our guidance for 2019 remains inside the range we provided and reiterated earlier in the year.”

Third Quarter Financial Highlights

For information regarding the non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this press release, please see the section titled “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.” Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures are provided in the tables of this press release.

Financial Outlook

The following forward-looking statements reflect Pluralsight's expectations as of October 30, 2019.

Full Year 2019 Guidance

Guidance for non-GAAP financial measures excludes equity-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions, secondary offering costs, acquisition-related costs, amortization of debt discount and issuance costs, and loss on debt extinguishment. Pluralsight has not reconciled its expectations as to adjusted pro forma net loss per share to their most directly comparable GAAP measures because certain items cannot be reasonably predicted. Accordingly, a reconciliation for expectations of adjusted pro forma net loss per share is not available without unreasonable effort.

Conference Call Information

Pluralsight will host a conference call for analysts and investors to discuss its second quarter 2019 results and outlook for its full year 2019, today at 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time).

Date:October 30, 2019
Time:2:30 p.m. MT (4:30 p.m. ET)
Webcast:https://investors.pluralsight.com/
Dial-in number:(877) 350-6732 or (629) 228-0693, conference ID: 2080527

A live audio webcast of the conference call will also be accessible from the Pluralsight website at investors.pluralsight.com. A telephonic replay of the call will be available three hours after the call, will run for seven days, and may be accessed by dialing (855) 859-2056 or (404) 537-3406 and entering the passcode 2080527.

About Pluralsight

Pluralsight is an enterprise technology skills platform that delivers a unified, end-to-end learning experience for businesses across the globe. Through a subscription service, companies are empowered to move at the speed of technology, increasing proficiency, innovation, and efficiency. Founded in 2004 and trusted by Fortune 500 companies, Pluralsight provides customers with on-demand access to a digital ecosystem of learning tools, including adaptive skill tests, directed learning paths, expert-authored courses, interactive labs and analytics. For more information, visit pluralsight.com.

Pluralsight and the Pluralsight logo are trademarks of Pluralsight, LLC in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding our future financial and operating performance, including our financial outlook for the full year 2019 and future periods. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this press release, including: the pace of market adoption of cloud-based learning solutions; our ability to expand our course library and develop new platform features; our ability to successfully integrate GitPrime into our platform; competition; our ability to attract and retain customers; our ability to increase sales of subscriptions to our platform to customers; our ability to expand our sales and marketing capabilities and to improve sales management and execution; and general market, political, economic, and business conditions.

Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect our financial results are included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K/A filed with the SEC on June 27, 2019 and in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on October 30, 2019, which is available on our website at investors.pluralsight.com and on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in other filings that we make with the SEC from time to time. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made, except as required by law.

Key Business Metrics

Billings. Billings represents total revenue plus the change in deferred revenue in the period, as presented in our condensed consolidated statements of cash flows, less the change in contract assets and unbilled accounts receivable in the period. Billings in any particular period represents amounts invoiced to customers and reflects subscription renewals and upsells to existing customers plus sales to new customers. We use billings to measure our ability to sell subscriptions to our platform to both new and existing customers. We use billings from business customers and our percentage of billings from business customers to measure and monitor our ability to sell subscriptions to our platform to business customers.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Pluralsight has provided in this press release financial information that has not been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP). Pluralsight uses the non-GAAP financial measures of non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating loss, adjusted pro forma net loss, adjusted pro forma net loss per share, and free cash flow in analyzing its financial results and believes that the use of these metrics is useful to investors as an additional tool to evaluate ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing Pluralsight’s financial results with other companies in its industry, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures.

The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP financial measures and should be read only in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of our historical non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures have been provided in the financial statement tables included in this press release, and investors are encouraged to review these reconciliations.

Non-GAAP gross profit. We define non-GAAP gross profit as gross profit plus equity-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, and employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions.

Non-GAAP gross margin. We define non-GAAP gross margin as non-GAAP gross profit divided by our revenue.

Non-GAAP operating loss. We define non-GAAP operating loss as loss from operations plus equity-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions, secondary offering costs, and acquisition-related costs.

Adjusted pro forma net loss and adjusted pro forma net loss per share. We define adjusted pro forma net loss as net loss attributable to Pluralsight, Inc. adjusted for the reallocation of loss attributable to non-controlling interests from the assumed exchange of LLC Units of Pluralsight Holdings for newly-issued shares of Class A common stock of Pluralsight, Inc. and further adjusted for equity-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions, secondary offering costs, acquisition-related costs, amortization of debt discount and issuance costs, and loss on debt extinguishment. We define adjusted pro forma net loss per share as adjusted pro forma net loss divided by the weighted-average shares of Class A common stock outstanding, assuming the full exchange of all outstanding LLC Units of Pluralsight Holdings for newly-issued shares of Class A common stock of Pluralsight, Inc.

Free cash flow. We define free cash flow as cash (used in) provided by operating activities less purchases of property and equipment and purchases of our content library.


PLURALSIGHT, INC.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
(unaudited)

Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
2019 2018 2019 2018
Revenue $82,620 $61,553 $228,099 $164,769
Cost of revenue(1)(2) 17,825 15,347 52,336 46,166
Gross profit 64,795 46,206 175,763 118,603
Operating expenses(1)(2):
Sales and marketing 55,727 42,632 149,852 113,956
Technology and content 27,799 18,137 72,829 49,858
General and administrative 20,817 19,818 63,591 57,112
Total operating expenses 104,343 80,587 286,272 220,926
Loss from operations (39,548) (34,381) (110,509) (102,323)
Other (expense) income:
Interest expense (7,778) (342) (17,499) (6,476)
Loss on debt extinguishment (950) (950) (4,085)
Other income, net 2,878 654 8,532 689
Loss before income taxes (45,398) (34,069) (120,426) (112,195)
Provision for income taxes (404) (254) (701) (506)
Net loss $(45,802) $(34,323) $(121,127) $(112,701)
Less: Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests (13,073) (17,980) (39,763) (31,890)
Net loss attributable to Pluralsight, Inc. $(32,729) $(16,343) $(81,364) $(80,811)
Less: Accretion of Series A redeemable convertible preferred units (176,275)
Net loss attributable to shares of Class A common stock $(32,729) $(16,343) $(81,364) $(257,086)
Net loss per share, basic and diluted(3) $(0.32) $(0.26) $(0.89) $(0.47)
Weighted-average shares of Class A common stock used in computing basic and diluted net loss per share(3) 101,407 62,472 91,741 62,400

(1) Includes equity-based compensation as follows:

Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
2019 2018 2019 2018
Cost of revenue $138 $56 $355 $145
Sales and marketing 8,739 5,612 22,967 13,507
Technology and content 6,666 3,700 15,513 8,652
General and administrative 9,114 11,262 28,822 30,678
Total equity-based compensation $24,657 $20,630 $67,657 $52,982

(2) Includes amortization of acquired intangible assets as follows:

Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
2019 2018 2019 2018
Cost of revenue $1,209 $880 $2,436 $6,803
Sales and marketing 50 79 389
Technology and content 176 176 529 529
Total amortization of acquired intangible assets $1,435 $1,056 $3,044 $7,721

(3) Net loss per share, basic and diluted and weighted-average common shares used in computing basic and diluted net loss per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 reflect only the activity for the portion of the period following Pluralsight, Inc.'s initial public offering and the related reorganization transactions.

PLURALSIGHT, INC.

Key Business Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures
(dollars in thousands)
(unaudited)

Key Business Metrics

Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
2019 2018 2019 2018
Billings $92,123 $72,243 $250,603 $192,959
Billings from business customers $80,707 $61,143 $216,967 $161,018
% of billings from business customers 88% 85% 87% 83%

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
2019 2018 2019 2018
Reconciliation of gross profit to non-GAAP gross profit:
Gross profit $64,795 $46,206 $175,763 $118,603
Equity-based compensation 138 56 355 145
Amortization of acquired intangible assets 1,209 880 2,436 6,803
Employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions 2 18
Non-GAAP gross profit $66,144 $47,142 $178,572 $125,551
Gross margin 78% 75% 77% 72%
Non-GAAP gross margin 80% 77% 78% 76%
Reconciliation of loss from operations to non-GAAP operating loss:
Loss from operations $(39,548) $(34,381) $(110,509) $(102,323)
Equity-based compensation 24,657 20,630 67,657 52,982
Amortization of acquired intangible assets 1,435 1,056 3,044 7,721
Employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions 333 3,106
Secondary offering costs 918
Acquisition-related costs 835
Non-GAAP operating loss $(13,123) $(12,695) $(34,949) $(41,620)


Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
2019 2018 2019 2018
Adjusted pro forma net loss per share
Numerator:
GAAP net loss attributable to shares of Class A common stock $(32,729) $(16,343) $(81,364) $(257,086)
Accretion of Series A redeemable convertible preferred units 176,275
Reallocation of net loss attributable to non-controlling interests from the assumed exchange of LLC Units of Pluralsight Holdings for Class A common stock (13,073) (17,980) (39,763) (31,890)
Equity-based compensation 24,657 20,630 67,657 52,982
Amortization of acquired intangibles 1,435 1,056 3,044 7,721
Employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions 333 3,106
Secondary offering costs 918
Acquisition-related costs 835
Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs 6,826 15,120 126
Loss on debt extinguishment 950 950 4,085
Adjusted pro forma net loss $(11,601) $(12,637) $(29,497) $(47,787)
Denominator:
Weighted-average shares of Class A common stock outstanding 101,407 62,472 91,741 31,314
Weighted-average LLC Units of Pluralsight Holdings that are convertible into Class A common stock 36,791 68,734 44,834 58,529
Adjusted pro forma weighted-average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted 138,198 131,206 136,575 89,843
Adjusted pro forma net loss per share $(0.08) $(0.10) $(0.22) $(0.53)


Reconciliation of net cash (used in) provided by operating activities to free cash flow:
Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities $(2,171) $1,934 $(3,812) $(14,283)
Less: Purchases of property and equipment (3,029) (2,002) (7,619) (6,576)
Less: Purchases of content library (1,381) (841) (3,822) (2,345)
Free cash flow $(6,581) $(909) $(15,253) $(23,204)

PLURALSIGHT, INC.

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands)
(unaudited)

September 30,
2019
December 31,
2018
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $120,871 $194,306
Short-term investments 328,602
Accounts receivable, net 63,001 63,436
Deferred contract acquisition costs, net 17,128
Prepaid expenses and other current assets 12,664 8,323
Total current assets 542,266 266,065
Restricted cash 27,748 16,765
Long-term investments 84,210
Property and equipment, net 56,471 31,641
Content library, net 8,207 7,050
Intangible assets, net 24,057 1,759
Goodwill 261,622 123,119
Deferred contract acquisition costs, noncurrent, net 4,435
Other assets 1,530 1,064
Total assets $1,010,546 $447,463
Liabilities and stockholders' equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable $4,664 $7,160
Accrued expenses 37,635 32,047
Accrued author fees 11,294 10,002
Deferred revenue 177,523 157,695
Total current liabilities 231,116 206,904
Deferred revenue, noncurrent 17,586 14,886
Convertible senior notes, net 463,656
Facility financing obligations 38,225 15,777
Other liabilities 2,157 1,303
Total liabilities 752,740 238,870
Stockholders' equity:
Preferred stock
Class A common stock 10 7
Class B common stock 2 6
Class C common stack 1 1
Additional paid-in capital 615,713 456,899
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) 185 (41)
Accumulated deficit (426,777) (355,446)
Total stockholders’ equity attributable to Pluralsight, Inc. 189,134 101,426
Non-controlling interests 68,672 107,167
Total stockholders’ equity 257,806 208,593
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $1,010,546 $447,463

PLURALSIGHT, INC.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in thousands)
(unaudited)

Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
2019 2018 2019 2018
Operating activities
Net loss $(45,802) $(34,323) $(121,127) $(112,701)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash (used in) provided by operating activities:
Depreciation of property and equipment 2,275 1,973 6,471 6,331
Amortization of acquired intangible assets 1,435 1,056 3,044 7,721
Amortization of course creation costs 651 507 1,841 1,437
Equity-based compensation 24,657 20,630 67,657 52,982
Amortization of deferred contract acquisition costs 6,006 17,317
Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs 6,826 15,120 1,215
Investment discount and premium amortization, net (1,065) (1,771)
Loss on debt extinguishment 950 950 4,085
Other (478) 118 (178) 507
Changes in assets and liabilities, net of acquired assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable (5,258) (11,687) 1,858 (10,352)
Deferred contract acquisition costs (7,238) (18,668)
Prepaid expenses and other assets 534 868 (3,660) (2,990)
Accounts payable (3,556) 1,516 (2,486) 928
Accrued expenses and other liabilities 8,441 9,751 6,067 6,912
Accrued author fees (7) 835 1,292 1,452
Deferred revenue 9,458 10,690 22,461 28,190
Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities (2,171) 1,934 (3,812) (14,283)
Investing activities
Purchases of property and equipment (3,029) (2,002) (7,619) (6,576)
Purchases of content library (1,381) (841) (3,822) (2,345)
Cash paid for acquisition, net of cash acquired 100 (163,771)
Purchases of investments (212,573) (529,653)
Proceeds from sales of investments 4,967
Proceeds from maturities of short-term investments 112,995 112,995
Net cash used in investing activities (103,888) (2,843) (586,903) (8,921)
Financing activities
Proceeds from issuance of convertible senior notes, net of discount and issuance costs 616,654
Purchase of capped calls related to issuance of convertible senior notes (69,432)
Repurchases of convertible senior notes (35,000) (35,000)
Proceeds from terminations of capped calls related to repurchases of convertible senior notes 1,284 1,284
Proceeds from issuance of common stock from employee equity plans 245 14,876
Proceeds from initial public offering, net of underwriting discounts and commissions 332,080
Payments of costs related to initial public offering (3,998) (7,083)
Borrowings of long-term debt 20,000
Repayments of long-term debt (137,710)
Payments of debt extinguishment costs (17) (2,179)
Payments of debt issuance costs (450)
Payments to settle equity appreciation rights (325)
Taxes paid related to net share settlement (78)
Other (4) (5) (10) (13)
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities (33,475) (4,020) 528,372 204,242
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash (130) (50) (109) (136)
Net (decrease) increase in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash (139,664) (4,979) (62,452) 180,902
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, beginning of period 288,283 214,358 211,071 28,477
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash, end of period $148,619 $209,379 $148,619 $209,379

Investor Relations Contact:
Mark McReynolds
Investor Relations
Pluralsight
801-784-9007
[email protected]

Media Contact:
DJ Anderson
Communications/Press
Pluralsight
801-784-9007
[email protected]

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