As the craze of earnings season draws to a close, here's a look back at some of the most exciting (and some less so) results from Q4. Today, we are looking at sales and marketing software stocks, starting with Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT).

The Internet and the exploding amount of data have transformed how businesses interact with, market to, and transact with their customers. Personalization of offerings, e-commerce, targeted advertising and data-empowered sales teams are now table stakes for modern businesses, and sales and marketing software providers are becoming the tools of evolving customer interaction.

The 24 sales and marketing software stocks we track reported a mixed Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 2.3%. while next quarter's revenue guidance was in line with consensus. Inflation progressed towards the Fed's 2% goal at the end of 2023, leading to strong stock market performance. The start of 2024 has been a bumpier ride, as the market switches between optimism and pessimism around rate cuts due to mixed inflation data, and sales and marketing software stocks have had a rough stretch, with share prices down 7.1% on average since the previous earnings results.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Founded by Justyn Howard and Aaron Rankin in 2010, Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) provides a software as a service platform that companies can use to schedule and respond to posts on major social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn.

Sprout Social reported revenues of $93.58 million, up 34.3% year on year, topping analyst expectations by 3.2%. It was a decent quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts' billings estimates but decelerating customer growth.

“We’re pleased to share incredibly strong fourth quarter results,” said Justyn Howard, Sprout Social’s CEO and co-founder.

The stock is down 18.5% since the results and currently trades at $52.57.

Is now the time to buy Sprout Social? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Best Q4: PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM)

Founded in 2006 as an online ad platform helping ad sellers, Pubmatic (NASDAQ: PUBM) is a fully integrated cloud-based programmatic advertising platform.

PubMatic reported revenues of $84.6 million, up 13.9% year on year, outperforming analyst expectations by 8.2%. It was a stunning quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in its gross margin and optimistic revenue guidance for the next quarter.

PubMatic achieved the biggest analyst estimates beat among its peers. The stock is up 31.1% since the results and currently trades at $21.73.

Is now the time to buy PubMatic? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Weakest Q4: Upland (NASDAQ:UPLD)

Founder Jack McDonald’s second software rollup, Upland Software (NASDAQ:UPLD) is a one stop shop for sales and marketing software, project management, HR, and contact center services for small and medium sized businesses.

Upland reported revenues of $72.18 million, down 8.4% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weak quarter for the company, with full-year revenue guidance missing analysts' expectations and management forecasting growth to slow.

Upland had the weakest full-year guidance update in the group. The stock is down 51.4% since the results and currently trades at $2.15.

Read our full analysis of Upland's results here.

Yext (NYSE:YEXT)

Founded in 2006 by Howard Lerman, Yext (NYSE:YEXT) offers software as a service that helps their clients manage and monitor their online listings and customer reviews across all relevant databases, from Google Maps to Alexa or Siri.

Yext reported revenues of $101.1 million, down 0.8% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weak quarter for the company, with full-year revenue guidance missing analysts' expectations and management forecasting growth to slow.

The stock is down 7.7% since the results and currently trades at $5.5.

Read our full, actionable report on Yext here, it's free.

Sprinklr (NYSE:CXM)

Initially focused only on social media management, Sprinklr (NYSE: CXM) is a leading provider of unified customer experience management software.

Sprinklr reported revenues of $194.2 million, up 17.5% year on year, surpassing analyst expectations by 2.9%. It was a solid quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts' billings estimates and a decent beat of analysts' revenue estimates.

The company added 3 enterprise customers paying more than $1m annually to reach a total of 126. The stock is down 12.8% since the results and currently trades at $11.34.

Read our full, actionable report on Sprinklr here, it's free.

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