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Why Workday (WDAY) is an Attractive Portfolio Pick Right Now

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Shares of Workday, Inc. (WDAY - Free Report) have climbed 29.9% over the past six months, driven by improved market demand across its portfolio on the back of a flexible business model and solid cash flow. Earnings estimates for the current fiscal year have increased 5.7% since August 2022, implying robust inherent growth potential. With healthy fundamentals, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock appears to be a solid investment option at the moment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Growth Drivers

Headquartered in Pleasanton, CA, Workday is a leading provider of enterprise-level software solutions for financial management and human resource domains. The company’s cloud-based platform combines finance and HR in a single system that makes it easier for organizations to provide analytical insights and decision support. Apart from Financial Management and Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, the company offers applications related to Payroll, Time Tracking, Recruiting, Learning, Planning, Professional Services Automation and Student.

Workday’s revenue growth continues to be driven by high demand for its HCM and financial management solutions. The company’s cloud-based business model and expanding product portfolio have been the primary growth drivers. Moreover, the growing clout of Workday Prism Analytics and Adaptive Insights business planning cloud offerings holds promise. Based on its expanding product portfolio, we believe that Workday is well-positioned to gain from the strong growth prospect going forward.

Workday’s HCM suite of applications demonstrates strong growth momentum, driven by the transition of organizations to the cloud. A steady flow of customers portrays a high customer satisfaction rate, which bodes well for its long-term business model. Workday is also gaining traction in the international market, driven by higher digital transformation initiatives across Finance and HR domains, in tune with the evolving market conditions.

With solid demand trends, the company is confident about its growth opportunities in fiscal 2024. It plans to focus on higher investments in key industries and innovation efforts to expand its footprint within the partner ecosystem.

It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 25.8% and delivered an earnings surprise of 7.7%, on average, in the trailing four quarters. The stock has a VGM Score of B.

Other Key Picks

Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1, is likely to benefit from the strong momentum and diversification across its top verticals and product lines. The company has a software-driven, data-centric approach to help customers build their cloud architecture and enhance their cloud experience. Arista has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 14.2% and delivered an earnings surprise of 14.2%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

It holds a leadership position in 100-gigabit Ethernet switching share in port for the high-speed datacenter segment. Arista is increasingly gaining market traction in 200- and 400-gig high-performance switching products and remains well-positioned for healthy growth in data-driven cloud networking business with proactive platforms and predictive operations.

Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR - Free Report) carries a Zacks Rank #2. It has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 7% and delivered an earnings surprise of 1.6%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

Juniper is leveraging the 400-gig cycle to capture hyperscale switching opportunities inside the data center. The company is set to capitalize on the increasing demand for data center virtualization, cloud computing and mobile traffic packet/optical convergence.

Viavi Solutions Inc. (VIAV - Free Report) , carrying a Zacks Rank #2, is another key pick. Headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, Viavi is a leading provider of network test, monitoring and service enablement solutions to diverse sectors across the globe. The product portfolio of the company offers end-to-end network visibility and analytics that help build, test, certify, maintain, and optimize complex physical and virtual networks.    

Viavi also offers high-performance thin film optical coatings for light-management solutions used in anti-counterfeiting, 3D sensing, electronics, automotive, defense and instrumentation markets. It delivered an earnings surprise of 9.1%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

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