GitLab Stock Plunges After Issuing Disappointing FY Earnings Guidance—Key Level to Watch

By
Timothy Smith
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Tim Smith has 20+ years of experience in the financial services industry, both as a writer and as a trader.
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Published March 04, 2024
This image depicts the GTLB chart.
Source: TradingView.com.

Key Takeaways

  • GitLab shares plunged more than 22% in extended-hours trading after the software infrastructure company issued full-year fiscal 2025 earnings guidance significantly below analysts' expectations.
  • The company said it couldn't provide a timeline on when it will deconsolidate its JiHu China joint venture.
  • The GitLab share price looks set to break below the neckline of an inverse head and shoulders pattern, but may find support around $57.50 from a trendline connecting the formation’s head and right shoulder.

GitLab (GTLB) shares plunged more than 22% in Monday’s extended-hours trading session after the software infrastructure company disappointed investors with weak full-year earnings guidance.

The San Francisco-based company, which operates an open-source repository development platform for coders, said it expects full-year fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings of between 19 and 23 cents per share, with the high end of that forecast coming in significantly below Wall Street’s modeling of 35 cents a share. 

For the fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, ending Jan. 31, the company disclosed adjusted earnings of 15 cents per share on revenue of $163.8 million, surpassing analysts’ expectations of 8 cents a share on sales of $157.9 million.

The top line grew 33% in the period, boosted by improved buying behavior across all of GitLab's customer sizes. The company now has 96 customers with annual reoccurring revenue of over $1 million, up 52% from last year’s corresponding quarter.

“We delivered a strong fourth quarter and continue to see large enterprise customers standardize on GitLab to realize business value,” GitLab’s co-founder and CEO Sid Sijbrandij said in the company’s earnings statement.

GitLab shares have carved out a textbook inverse head and shoulders pattern over the past 18 months—a chart formation that often signals a market bottom. However, the price looks set to break down below the pattern’s neckline after the company’s disappointing earnings outlook.

Amid a news-driven sell-off, investors should keep an eye on the $57.50 level, which may find support from a trendline connecting the formation’s head and right shoulder. It’s worth noting that a close below the right shoulder would invalidate the pattern and could lead to a retest of the stock’s record low at $26.24 set in May last year.

GitLab shares fell 22.1% to $58.01 in after-hours trading Monday.

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  1. GitLab. "GitLab Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results."

  2. MarketWatch. "GitLab's Weak Earnings Guidance is Punishing Its Stock."

  3. GitLab. "Earnings Transcript, Page 5."

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