Datadog是一家什么樣的公司？為什么受到投資者歡迎

緊隨著2019年最大規模的幾次首次公開募股（IPO），軟件即服務（software-as-a-service）公司Datadog可能要從今年上市的燒錢公司萎靡不振的境況中脫穎而出。

這家監控和分析公司在本周四通過IPO以大約78億美元的估值融資了超過6.48億美元。公司本計劃以DDOG的股票代碼在24—26美元的區間發行股票，但卻在周三最終決定以每股27美元的價格出售2,400萬股。在納斯達克交易的首日周四，股價的漲幅就已超過40%。

Datadog會通過分析數據、監控服務器、工具、數據庫和各項服務為公司監控云應用，從而幫助各公司最大幅度地提高應用性能，改善用戶體驗。

不過即使Datadog的估值很高，分析師還是建議投資者將它納入考慮范圍。

制度研究機構和IPO ETF提供商復興資本（Renaissance Capital）的高級IPO市場戰略師馬修·肯尼迪對《財富》（Fortune）表示：“從根本上說，像Datadog這樣的公司正在開足馬力，實現各項指標。事實已經證明，這類IPO在今年給投資者帶來了豐厚的回報。它就是一家讓投資者興奮不已的高增長型軟件公司，而幾乎沒有哪家公司具有它這樣強勁的增長和盈利能力。”

實際上，盡管IPO投資者在2019年可能已經習慣（厭倦）了大肆燒錢的公司【想想來福車（Lyft）、優步（Uber），可能還有WeWork】，但Datadog的基本情況卻令人耳目一新。這家軟件公司在2018年收入1.98億美元，同比增長97%，但它卻把資金的消耗控制在了最低水平（只有3%的虧損）。對比2019年規模最大的那些IPO動輒數十億美元的瘋狂支出，投資者為什么青睞Datadog就顯而易見了。實際上，研究和咨詢公司IPO Boutique的數據顯示，在Datadog上市之前，股票就已經超額認購——這意味著投資者對該股票的需求量已經超出了股票的實際發行量。

肯尼迪表示：“Datadog是罕見的既有增長又能盈利的公司，所以它與我們今年看到的大部分IPO不一樣，甚至那些估值極高的IPO也沒有這種表現。”Datadog估值高達約80億美元，市盈率達30倍，對投資者而言具有很大風險——但復興資本的肯尼迪認為他們愿意為此投入一大筆錢。

肯尼迪表示：“軟件公司的市盈率目前看起來有所走高，我認為投資者看好Datadog能在數據分析領域保持長期的強勁態勢。”

除此之外，這家云監控公司美元的留存收益率約在150%左右（肯尼迪認為“這個數據保持得太穩定了”），而D.A. Davidson的里什·加魯里亞寫道：“Datadog的強勁增長還在繼續，（2019年上半年）收入（同比）增加79%，我們認為這讓Datadog一躍成為增長速度排名第二的軟件公司（僅次于Zoom Video Communications）”，他甚至還稱這家公司“已經不僅僅是令人印象深刻了”。再加上Datadog極具侵略性地給出了27美元的開盤價，分析師對這家軟件公司未來表現出色充滿了信心。

但Datadog并非業內的唯一競爭者——實際上，包括Dynatrace和New Relic在內的幾家對手可能會在爭取投資者的資金上給Datadog帶來挑戰。

加魯里亞寫道，D.A. Davidson的一份報告顯示，New Relic的規模幾乎是Datadog的兩倍，總收入和經營利潤更高，在企業和平臺上的指標也相似。

今年上市的軟件即服務公司（或云公司）不止Datadog一家。尤其值得一提的是，Slack今年早些時候選擇了很不尋常的直接上市，隨后卻在股市中表現慘淡，目前的交易價格比起開盤價已經下跌了30%以上。不過肯尼迪認為，即使發行價達到27美元（是公司定價區間的上限），Datadog的股價比起軟件領域的其他公司也具有相當的競爭力。實際上，他認為“考慮到一些同行所處的位置，股價還有上漲空間。”

看起來，每個人都在追求Datadog。據彭博社（Bloomberg）報道，思科系統（Cisco Systems）甚至提出以70億美元收購這家軟件公司，但Datadog予以拒絕，并選擇了首次公開募股。

有一件事可以明確——投資者似乎迫不及待想登上Datadog這艘船。肯尼斯表示：“我能輕易預測到它的價格會（從每股27美元）上漲，不過我們也注意到軟件股票的市盈率已經超過了歷史均值。”（財富中文網）

譯者：嚴匡正

Chasing the heels of some of 2019's largest IPOs, Datadog, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, may just be a refreshing break from the quagmire of cash-burning companies debuting this year.

On Thursday, the monitoring and analytics company raised over $648 million at around a $7.8 billion valuation for their IPO. The company sold 24 million shares at $27 per share on Wednesday, after initially pricing them at $24 to $26 a pop under the ticker DDOG. The company began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday, and shares are already up over 40% as of intraday trading.

Datadog monitors cloud applications for companies through analyzing data, monitoring servers, tools, databases, and various services to help companies maximize performance and improve user experience.

But even at the high valuation, analysts suggest investors consider throwing Datadog a bone.

"Fundamentally, everything looks like Datadog is firing on all cylinders and hitting all their metrics," Matthew Kennedy, senior IPO market strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of institutional research and IPO ETFs, told Fortune. "These types of IPOs have proven to be very profitable for investors this year. It’s just the latest high growth software company that investors are excited about, and this one just has growth and profitability that few do."

In fact, while 2019 IPO investors may have become (wearily) used to high cash burn companies (think Lyft, Uber, and potentially WeWork), Datadog is a breath of fresh air on the fundamentals side. The software company had 97% growth in 2018 (year over year) with $198 million in revenue, with a very minimal cash burn (about negative 3%). Compare that to the multi-billion dollar cash burn of several of 2019's largest IPOs, and it's clear why investors are chasing Datadog. In fact, according to research and advisory firm IPO Boutique, the offering was already oversubscribed before its debut—meaning there was more investor demand for shares than actual shares to sell.

"Datadog is such a rare combination of growth and profitability, so it is unlike most of the IPOs we’ve seen this year, even the ones that have gotten extremely high valuations," Kennedy says. With around an $8 billion enterprise value and 30x's trailing sales, Datadog is a big ask for investors—but Renaissance Capital's Kennedy believes they are willing to pay a pretty penny.

"Software multiples look elevated right now, and I think that investors are looking at Datadog as such a strong, long-term play for data analytics," Kennedy says.

To boot, the cloud monitoring company boasts around a 150% dollar-based retention rate (what Kennedy calls "so sticky it stays there"), and D.A. Davidson's Rishi Jaluria writes that "Datadog's strong growth rates have continued, with [the first half of 2019] revenue up 79% [year over year], which we believe makes Datadog the second-fastest growing software company after [Zoom Video Communications]"—and even calls the company's financials "beyond impressive." Coupled with an aggressive opening price of $27 a share, analysts are confident the software player will perform well.

But Datadog isn't alone in the field—in fact, there are several competitors, including Dynatrace and New Relic, that may give Datadog a run for investors' money.

New Relic is almost twice the size of Datadog, according to a D.A. Davidson report, and boasts higher gross and operating margins, and similar metrics on enterprise and platform, Jaluria writes.

Datadog isn't the only SaaS (or cloud) company to go public this year. Notably, Slack went the unusual direct listing route earlier this year, but has since had poor performance in the stock market, with shares currently down over 30% from their opening price. Still, even at $27 (on the top end of their pricing), Datadog is priced fairly competitively to others in the software space, Kennedy argues. In fact, he believes "given where some of the peers are, there’s a case for upside."

It looks like everyone is chasing Datadog—according to Bloomberg, Cisco Systems even offered the software company $7 billion to buy it out, which Datadog rejected in favor of an IPO.

One thing is clear—investors seem to be chomping at the bit to get in on Datadog. "I can easily see them trading up from [$27 per share], but we are conscious of the fact that software multiples look above the historical mean," Kennedy says.