Earnings results often indicate what direction a company will take in the months ahead. With Q4 now behind us, let’s have a look at VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) and its peers.

While e-commerce has been around for over two decades and enjoyed meaningful growth, its overall penetration of retail still remains low. Only around $1 in every $5 spent on retail purchases comes from digital orders, leaving over 80% of the retail market still ripe for online disruption. It is these large swathes of the retail where e-commerce has not yet taken hold that drives the demand for various e-commerce software solutions.

The 6 e-commerce software stocks we track reported a mixed Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 1.7%. while next quarter's revenue guidance was 0.9% below consensus. Stocks--especially those trading at higher multiples--had a strong end of 2023, but 2024 has seen periods of volatility. Mixed signals about inflation have led to uncertainty around rate cuts, and while some of the e-commerce software stocks have fared somewhat better than others, they collectively declined, with share prices falling 3.7% on average since the previous earnings results.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN)

While the company is not a domain registrar and does not directly sell domain names to end users, Verisign (NASDAQ:VRSN) operates and maintains the infrastructure to support domain names such as .com and .net.

VeriSign reported revenues of $380.4 million, up 3% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a narrow beat of analysts' revenue estimates, though EPS came in ahead by a more convincing margin.

VeriSign delivered the slowest revenue growth of the whole group. The stock is down 6.6% since the results and currently trades at $187.94.

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

Best Q4: Squarespace (NYSE:SQSP)

Founded in New York City in 2003, Squarespace (NYSE:SQSP) is a platform for small businesses and creators to build their digital presences online.

Squarespace reported revenues of $270.7 million, up 18.3% year on year, outperforming analyst expectations by 2.9%. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts' billings estimates and a solid beat of analysts' ARR (annual recurring revenue) estimates.

Squarespace achieved the highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The stock is up 10.8% since the results and currently trades at $37.36.

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

Wix (NASDAQ:WIX)

Founded in 2006 in Tel Aviv, Wix.com (NASDAQ:WIX) offers a free and easy to operate website building platform.

Wix reported revenues of $403.8 million, up 13.7% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with a miss of analysts' billings estimates and full-year revenue guidance missing analysts' expectations.

The stock is up 4.8% since the results and currently trades at $131.23.

Read our full analysis of Wix's results here.

GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY)

Founded by Bob Parsons after selling his first company to Intuit, GoDaddy (NYSE:GDDY) provides small and mid-sized businesses with the ability to buy a web domain and tools to create and manage a website.

GoDaddy reported revenues of $1.1 billion, up 5.8% year on year, falling short of analyst expectations by 0.1%. It was a slower quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and full-year revenue guidance missing analysts' expectations.

GoDaddy had the weakest performance against analyst estimates among its peers. The stock is up 9.7% since the results and currently trades at $124.

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

BigCommerce (NASDAQ:BIGC)

Founded in Sydney, Australia in 2009 by Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani, BigCommerce (NASDAQ:BIGC) provides software for businesses to easily create online stores.

BigCommerce reported revenues of $84.15 million, up 16.2% year on year, surpassing analyst expectations by 3.2%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with full-year revenue guidance missing analysts' expectations and management forecasting growth to slow.

BigCommerce had the weakest full-year guidance update among its peers. The stock is down 22.8% since the results and currently trades at $6.38.

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

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