The American software company Workday, known for its cloud solutions in finance and human resources management, has released its results for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2025, significantly increasing both revenue and profit. The company exceeded analysts' expectations and simultaneously raised its long-term outlook, which was positively received by the stock market.

In the past quarter, Workday recorded a revenue increase of 16.7 percent to 2.085 billion USD. The subscription segment, in particular, showed strong growth of 17.2 percent, reaching 1.903 billion USD. As a result, Workday was able to surpass analysts' forecasts of 2.07 billion USD.

The company's operating profit also rose significantly to 111 million US dollars, after being 36 million US dollars in the previous year. The operating margin doubled to 5.3 percent. Net income climbed to 132 million US dollars, corresponding to a profit of 0.49 US dollars per share. Adjusted for special items, the profit reached 1.75 US dollars per share, exceeding expectations of 1.65 US dollars.

Workday-CEO Carl Eschenbach emphasized in a press release the company's strong performance and the growing demand for Workday's products worldwide: "Our performance in the second quarter exceeded our expectations regarding our key financial metrics.”

Workday appears particularly optimistic about future developments. The company plans to further optimize its platform and focus more on artificial intelligence. "With the help of our unified, AI-supported platform and our growing partner ecosystem, we are reimagining HR and finance," said Eschenbach.

This positive assessment is also reflected in the raised outlook. For the fiscal years 2026 and 2027, Workday expects an annual growth in subscription revenue of 15 percent and an expansion of the adjusted operating margin to 30 percent. This was 24.9 percent in the second quarter.

Investors reacted enthusiastically to the announcement, driving the price of Workday stock up 112.49 percent to $259.95 on the NASDAQ exchange. Analysts were also positively surprised. "Workday surprised most investors – and us – with a significant and very welcome turnaround in the growth-margin trade-off," wrote UBS analyst Karl Keirstead.

Workday has not only exceeded expectations but also sent clear signals for future growth and profitability. This could further strengthen investor confidence and help the company achieve its ambitious goals.