Pega's AI Innovation Drives Strong ACV Growth and Record Cash Flow in Q4 2024

Business Wire 12-Feb-2025 4:25 PM

• Operating cash flow grows to $346 million and free cash flow grows to $338 million in 2024
• Annual Contract Value (ACV) grows 9% year over year (11% in constant currency)
• Pega Cloud ACV grows 18% year over year (21% in constant currency)
• 2025 guidance of 12% ACV growth, $455 million in cash flow from operations, and $440 million in free cash flow

Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA), the Enterprise Transformation Company™, released its financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2024.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250212298048/en/

Total ACV Growth and Pega Cloud ACV Growth (Graphic: Business Wire)

"2024 was a transformative year for Pega, the industry, and our clients," said Alan Trefler, Pega founder and CEO. "Our team's impressive performance drove the introduction of the most innovative solutions in our history. The reaction from our clients and partners has been remarkable, leading to deeper engagement and new opportunities.

"We met or exceeded our financial objectives for 2024 including becoming a Rule of 40 company," said Ken Stillwell, Pega COO and CFO. "We're committed to accelerating growth and free cash flow in 2025 and beyond."

Financial and performance metrics ⁽¹⁾

2025 Guidance ⁽¹⁾

As of February 12, 2025, we are providing the following guidance:

Quarterly conference call

A conference call and audio-only webcast will be conducted at 8:00 a.m. EST on Thursday, February 13, 2025.

Members of the public and investors are invited to join the call and participate in the question and answer session by dialing 1 (800) 715-9871 (domestic) or 1 (646) 307-1963 (international) and using Conference ID 3830305, or via https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/343473625 by logging onto www.pega.com at least five minutes prior to the event's broadcast and clicking on the webcast icon in the Investors section.

Discussion of non-GAAP financial measures

Our non-GAAP financial measures should only be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. We believe that these measures help investors understand our core operating results and prospects, which is consistent with how management measures and forecasts our performance without the effect of often one-time charges and other items outside our normal operations. Management uses these measures to assess the performance of the company's operations and establish operational goals and incentives. They are not a substitute for financial measures prepared under U.S. GAAP. Refer to the schedules at the end of this release for additional information, including a reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP measures.

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Words such as expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, will, could, should, estimates, may, targets, strategies, intends to, projects, forecasts, guidance, likely, and usually or variations of such words and other similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These statements represent our views only as of the date the statement was made and are based on current expectations and assumptions.

Forward-looking statements deal with future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, including, but not limited to:

• our future financial performance and business plans;
• the adequacy of our liquidity and capital resources;
• the successful execution of investments in artificial intelligence;
• the continued payment of our quarterly dividends;
• the timing of revenue recognition;
• variation in demand for our products and services, including among clients in the public sector;
• reliance on key personnel;
• reliance on third-party service providers, including hosting providers;
• compliance with our debt obligations and covenants;
• foreign currency exchange rates;
• potential legal and financial liabilities, as well as damage to our reputation, due to cyber-attacks;
• security breaches and security flaws;
• our ability to protect our intellectual property rights, costs associated with defending such rights, intellectual property rights claims, and other related claims by third parties against us, including related costs, damages, and other relief that may be granted against us;
• our ongoing litigation with Appian Corp.;
• our client retention rate; and
• management of our growth.

These risks and others that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements are described further in Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and other filings we make with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").

Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, and there are no assurances that the results included in such statements will be achieved. Although subsequent events may cause our view to change, except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake and expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as the result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Any forward-looking statements in this press release represent our views as of February 12, 2025.

About Pegasystems

Pega is The Enterprise Transformation Company that helps organizations Build for Change® with enterprise AI decisioning and workflow automation. Many of the world's most influential businesses rely on our platform to solve their most pressing challenges, from personalizing engagement to automating service to streamlining operations. Since 1983, we've built our scalable and flexible architecture to help enterprises meet today's customer demands while continuously transforming for tomorrow. For more information on Pega (NASDAQ:PEGA), visit www.pega.com.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Our non-GAAP financial measures reflect the following adjustments:

• Stock-based compensation: We have excluded stock-based compensation from our non-GAAP operating expenses and profitability measures. Although stock-based compensation is a key incentive offered to our employees, and we believe such compensation contributed to our revenues recognized during the periods presented and is expected to contribute to our future revenues, we continue to evaluate our business performance, excluding stock-based compensation.
• Restructuring: We have excluded restructuring from our non-GAAP financial measures. Restructuring fluctuates in amount and frequency and is significantly affected by the timing and size of our restructuring activities. We believe excluding these amounts from our non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors as these amounts are not representative of our core business operations and ongoing operational performance.
• Legal fees: Legal and related fees arising from proceedings outside the ordinary course of business. We believe excluding these amounts from our non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors as the types of events giving rise to them are not representative of our core business operations and ongoing operational performance.
• Litigation settlement, net of recoveries: Cost to settle litigation, net of insurance recoveries, arising from proceedings outside the ordinary course of business. See "Note 20. Commitments And Contingencies" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 for additional information. We believe excluding these amounts from our non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors as the types of events giving rise to them are not representative of our core business operations and ongoing operational performance.
• Amortization of intangible assets: We have excluded the amortization of intangible assets from our non-GAAP operating expenses and profitability measures. Amortization of intangible assets fluctuates in amount and frequency and is significantly affected by the timing and size of acquisitions. Investors should note that intangible assets contributed to our revenues recognized during the periods presented and are expected to contribute to future revenues. Amortization of intangible assets is likely to recur in future periods. We believe excluding these amounts provides a useful comparison of our operational performance in different periods.
• Interest on convertible senior notes: In February 2020, we issued convertible senior notes, due March 1, 2025, in a private placement. We believe that excluding the amortization of issuance costs provides a useful comparison of our operational performance in different periods.
• Capped call transactions: We have excluded gains and losses related to our capped call transactions held at fair value under U.S. GAAP. The capped call transactions are expected to reduce common stock dilution and/or offset any potential cash payments we must make, other than for principal and interest, upon conversion of the convertible senior notes. We believe excluding these amounts from our non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors as the types of events giving rise to them are not representative of our core business operations and ongoing operational performance.
• Repurchases of convertible senior notes: We have excluded gains from the repurchases of Convertible Senior Notes. We believe excluding these amounts from our non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors as the types of events giving rise to them are not representative of our core business operations and ongoing operational performance.
• Foreign currency transaction (gain) loss: We have excluded foreign currency transaction gains and losses from our non-GAAP profitability measures. Foreign currency transaction gains and losses fluctuate in amount and frequency and are significantly affected by foreign exchange market rates. Foreign currency transaction gains and losses are likely to recur in future periods. We believe excluding these amounts provides a useful comparison of our operational performance in different periods.
• Other: We have excluded gains and losses from our venture investments and expenses incurred due to the cancellation of in-person sales and marketing events. We believe excluding these amounts from our non-GAAP financial measures is useful to investors as the types of events giving rise to them are not representative of our core business operations and ongoing operational performance.
• Diluted weighted-average number of common shares outstanding:
  • Capped call transactions: In periods of GAAP income, the shares that would be issued if the Company's Convertible Senior Notes were fully converted to common shares are included in the diluted weighted-average shares outstanding. The capped call transactions are expected to reduce common stock dilution and/or offset any potential cash payments the Company must make, other than for principal and interest, upon conversion of the convertible senior notes, with such reduction and/or offset subject to a cap of $196.44. We believe that including the expected impact of the capped call transactions in our non-GAAP financial measures provides a useful comparison of our operational performance in different periods.

Our GAAP effective income tax rate is subject to significant fluctuations due to several factors, including our stock-based compensation plans, research and development tax credits, and the valuation allowance on our deferred tax assets in the U.S. and U.K. We determine our non-GAAP income tax rate using applicable rates in taxing jurisdictions and assessing certain factors, including historical and forecasted earnings by jurisdiction, discrete items, and ability to realize tax assets. We believe it is beneficial for our management to review our non-GAAP results consistent with our annual plan's effective income tax rate as established at the beginning of each year, given tax rate volatility. See "Note 18. Income Taxes" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 for additional information.

• Litigation settlement, net of recoveries: Cost to settle litigation, net of insurance recoveries, arising from proceedings outside the ordinary course of business. See "Note 20. Commitments And Contingencies" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 for additional information.
• Legal fees: Legal and related fees arising from proceedings outside the ordinary course of business.
• Restructuring: Restructuring fluctuates in amount and frequency and is significantly affected by the timing and size of our restructuring activities.
• Interest on convertible senior notes: In February 2020, we issued convertible senior notes, due March 1, 2025, in a private placement. The convertible senior notes accrue interest at an annual rate of 0.75%, payable semi-annually in arrears on March 1 and September 1.
• Other: Fees related to canceled in-person sales and marketing events.
• Income taxes: Direct income taxes paid net of refunds received.

Annual contract value ("ACV") - Annual Contract Value ("ACV") represents the annualized value of our active contracts as of the measurement date. The contract's total value is divided by its duration in years to calculate ACV. ACV is a performance measure that we believe provides useful information to our management and investors.

Remaining performance obligations ("Backlog") - Expected future revenue from existing non-cancellable contracts:

As of December 31, 2024:

As of December 31, 2023:

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250212298048/en/

Press contact: Lisa Pintchman VP, Corporate Communications lisapintchman.rogers@pega.com 617-866-6022 Twitter: @pega

Investor contact: Peter Welburn VP, Corporate Development & Investor Relations PegaInvestorRelations@pega.com 617-498-8968