By Neha Malara
(Reuters) - Slack Technologies Inc (N:WORK) beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and profit as it signed on larger companies to its workplace communication platform, sending its shares up nearly 3% in trading after the bell.
The company competes directly with Microsoft Corp's (O:MSFT) workplace messaging platform, Teams, which grew more than 50% to roughly 20 million daily active users in the September quarter.
In the latest quarter ended Oct. 31, Slack grew by about 20% to more than 12 million daily active users.
"It may take some time for Slack to shake off the 'Microsoft overhang', but this is a step in the right direction to dispute that narrative with investors," said Rishi Jaluria from research firm DA Davidson & Co.
The company has seen strong adoption and benefits from allowing users to use other apps like Salesforce and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Drive without leaving the platform, he added.
Slack added more than 105,000 paid users during the quarter.
It went public in June opting for a direct listing, instead of an initial public offering, at an offering price of $26 per share. Its shares soared nearly 50% on debut, taking its valuation past $23 billion.
The company forecast fourth-quarter loss between 6 cents and 7 cents per share. Analysts on average were expecting a loss of 6 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
It forecast current-quarter revenue between $172 million and $174 million, compared with analysts' estimates of 172.9 million.
Slack's revenue jumped nearly 60% to $168.7 million in the third quarter ended Oct.31, above analysts' average estimates of $156.0 million, according to IBES data by Refinitiv.
The company's total operating expenses soared 68.4% to $142.9 million during the quarter.
However, net loss attributable to common stockholders widened to $89.2 million from $47.7 million a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company reported a loss of 2 cents per share, compared with analysts' estimates of a loss of 8 cents per share.