Tableau Gearing up for Competition

According to Wikibon’s Big Data Vendor Revenue and Market Forecast released earlier this year, the worldwide market for Big Data-related hardware, software, and services grew 58% over the year to $18.6 billion in 2013. The report estimates the market to grow to $28.5 billion in 2014 and to $50.1 billion by the year 2017.

Tableau’s Financials
Seattle-based Tableau Software (NYSE: DATA) is a provider of analytic tools to cater to Big Data. Founded in 2003 by Stanford alumni and professors Christian Chabot, Chris Stolte, and Pat Hanrahan, Tableau’s analytic software converts simple drag-and-drop actions into data queries and delivers results in the form of graphics.

The company recently reported their second quarter results and saw revenues grow 82% over the year to $90.7 million. EPS of $0.05 was also significantly higher than previous year’s $0.01. The market was looking for revenues of $79.7 million for the quarter and a loss of $0.03 per share.

By segment, revenues from licenses grew 80% to $60.4 million and maintenance services revenues grew 85% to $30.3 million.

For the current quarter, Tableau expects revenue of $90 million-$94 million. The market was looking for revenues of $87.6 million with a loss of $0.06 per share. Tableau projected the year’s revenues at $366 million-$372 million compared with the Street’s forecast of $353.2 million.

Tableau’s International Expansion
Tableau has been focused on growing their geographic footprint. The move has seen strong results with revenues from international markets doubling over the year. Earlier this quarter, they opened their office in Frankfurt, Germany. They also announced the appointment of a dedicated country manager for Austria, Germany, and Switzerland to cater to growth in the region. They now have more than a hundred employees in Europe catering to over thousands of customers and organizations using their software in the continent.

As part of their European expansion, Tableau’s CEO and founder Christian Cabot is also relocating to London to strengthen growth.

Tableau’s Product Upgrade
Tableau also released Tableau 8.2, an upgraded version that will bring Tableau to the Mac besides several other enhancements. Some of the new features include the ability to automatically connect and detect data from Microsoft Excel and text file data sources, improved performance through connection with Google BigQuery that uses the native API from BigQuery, a SAP HANA connector that supports HANA variables and Input Parameters and a Splunk Connector to analyze machine data in Splunk.

Tableau will need such product upgrades because their competition from bigger players is increasing. Recently, IBM announced the release of a new visual data analytics software product and CRM leader Salesforce.com is expected to release its first major data analytics service today.

Tableau’s stock is trading at $67.62 with a market capitalization of $4.65 billion. It touched a 52-week high of $102.37 in February this year. Tableau had raised $15 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates before going public. At their IPO last year, they raised more than $250 million at a valuation of over $2 billion.