Tableau Software’s migration to subscription offerings for its data visualization software continues to be ahead of schedule, as the company reported a 230 percent increase in subscription revenue in the first quarter.
Tableau’s financials were a bit of a mixed bag, as the company fell a penny short on earnings, posting losses of 19 cents per share versus expectations of 18 cents in losses, but came out ahead on revenue — $224 million, up 12 percent over the previous year and above of analyst expectations of $218 million.
Tableau said it began using a new accounting standard at the start of the year, which found $246 million in revenue for the quarter and profits of 7 cents per share.
Tableau stock rose close to 6 percent in after-hours trading, following the release of its earnings report.
“We’re just getting started on our journey to make Tableau even easier to buy and scale for our customers,” Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky said in a statement. “Our new subscription offerings announced last week will broaden our platform and enable our customers to deploy analytics to entire workforces with solutions tailored for every employee.”
The new subscription products were announced after the end of the first quarter but figure to play an important role for Tableau going forward. The company overhauled its pricing structure as part of an overall greater focus on the enterprise and added a new product called Tableau Prep to clean up and standardize data.
During the quarter, Tableau continued on a plan to consolidate its office space. Google scooped up a couple floors from Tableau in the Fremont neighborhood, and just across the street, Tableau moved into a brand new office building.
Tableau now employs 3,663 people worldwide, up from 3,489 last quarter and 3,193 a year ago. Tableau landed 3,900 new customers in the first quarter, bringing its total customer base to approximately 74,000
So far, Tableau’s shift to subscription products has been effective. After some tough times in 2015 and 2016, Tableau’s stock lost two-thirds of its value. But in the last 12 months, shares have risen 55 percent.
