Appian Corporation
- Open
- 40.33
- Day high
- 41.78
- Day low
- 40.33
- Prev close
- 39.89
- Volume
- 42K
- Mkt cap
- $2.9B
- P/E (TTM)
- —
- EPS (TTM)
- —
- P/B
- -27.2
- P/S
- 3.6
- Yield
- —
- Per share
- —
- ▼Insiders net selling -$4.0M over the last 3 months (0 open-market buys, 7 sales)
- 🏛Institutions accumulating (13F)
Appian Corporation (APPN) is a Technology company listed on NASDAQ. The stock is up 29% over the past year. Over the trailing 3 months, insiders filed 0 open-market buys and 7 sales (SEC Form 4).
Appian Corporation (APPN) financials & analyst ratings
Fundamentals (TTM)
Analyst consensus · 3 analysts
Source: exchange market data + company filings. Figures are trailing-twelve-month or as most recently reported. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
APPN earnings date, history & EPS estimates
| Report date | EPS est | EPS actual | Surprise | Revenue | Rev. surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | $0.00 | $0.13 | +4120.8% | $203M | +4.8% |
| May 7, 2026 | $0.19 | $0.27 | +42.1% | $202M | +5.4% |
| Feb 19, 2026 | $0.09 | $0.15 | +66.7% | $203M | +6.1% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | $0.05 | $0.32 | +540.0% | $187M | -0.9% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | $-0.13 | $-0.14 | -7.7% | $171M | -1.4% |
| May 8, 2025 | $0.03 | $0.13 | +333.3% | $166M | +4.1% |
| Feb 19, 2025 | $-0.01 | $-0.12 | -1100.0% | $167M | -0.2% |
| Nov 7, 2024 | $-0.09 | $0.15 | +266.7% | $154M | -6.2% |
| Aug 1, 2024 | $-0.31 | $-0.26 | +16.1% | $146M | +2.4% |
| May 2, 2024 | $-0.15 | $-0.24 | -60.0% | $150M | +0.1% |
| Feb 15, 2024 | $-0.25 | $0.06 | +124.0% | $145M | +3.1% |
| Nov 2, 2023 | $-0.26 | $-0.20 | +23.1% | $137M | +1.3% |
APPN insider trading activity (SEC Form 4)
| Date | Insider | Type | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | Calkins Matthew Wdirector, 10 percent owner, officer: CEO and President | Sell | 2,580 | $31.66 |
| Aug 11, 2026 | Calkins Matthew Wdirector, 10 percent owner, officer: CEO and President | Sell | 31,547 | $34.79 |
| Aug 11, 2026 | Calkins Matthew Wdirector, 10 percent owner, officer: CEO and President | Sell | 9,264 | $34.34 |
| Aug 11, 2026 | Calkins Matthew Wdirector, 10 percent owner, officer: CEO and President | Sell | 1,609 | $33.09 |
| Aug 6, 2026 | Tanjga Srdjanofficer: Chief Financial Officer | Option | 58,920 | — |
| Aug 6, 2026 | Tanjga Srdjanofficer: Chief Financial Officer | Grant | 52,728 | — |
| Aug 6, 2026 | Dorsey Markofficer: Chief Revenue Officer | Option | 4,533 | — |
| Aug 6, 2026 | Dorsey Markofficer: Chief Revenue Officer | Tax | 1,352 | $29.96 |
| Aug 6, 2026 | Tanjga Srdjanofficer: Chief Financial Officer | Tax | 28,350 | $29.96 |
| Jul 8, 2026 | Calkins Matthew Wdirector, 10 percent owner, officer: CEO and President | Sell | 37,515 | $24.61 |
| Jul 8, 2026 | Calkins Matthew Wdirector, 10 percent owner, officer: CEO and President | Sell | 12,485 | $25.07 |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Link David Forrestdirector | Grant | 1,364 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Hartman Carl Joseph IIdirector | Grant | 1,364 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Edwards Shirley Anndirector | Grant | 1,364 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Lynch Mark Stevendirector | Grant | 1,364 | — |
Source: APPN SEC Form 4 filings, latest Aug 11, 2026. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
See the full APPN insider & 13F page →Appian Corporation company profile
Overview
Appian Corporation (NASDAQ:APPN) is a software company founded in 1999 and headquartered in McLean, Virginia. The company went public in May 2017 and has established itself as a provider of low-code automation platforms that help organizations build business applications and automate processes without extensive traditional programming. Over its 25-year history, Appian has evolved from a business process management company into a comprehensive platform that combines workflow automation, artificial intelligence, and data integration capabilities to serve enterprise customers across various industries including government, financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing.
Business
Appian operates in the low-code automation platform industry, which sits at the intersection of enterprise software and business process automation. The company's core offering is the Appian Platform, a comprehensive software solution that enables organizations to build business applications, automate workflows, and integrate data without requiring extensive traditional coding skills. The platform addresses a fundamental challenge in enterprise software development: the time, cost, and technical expertise traditionally required to create custom business applications. Instead of writing code line-by-line, users can employ visual development tools, pre-built components, and drag-and-drop interfaces to create sophisticated applications that automate business processes, manage data, and facilitate decision-making. Appian's platform consists of several integrated components. The low-code development environment allows users to create forms, workflows, data structures, reports, and user interfaces through visual design tools. The process automation engine orchestrates complex business workflows that can span multiple departments and systems. The data fabric technology integrates information from various enterprise systems into a unified view. Most recently, the company has embedded artificial intelligence capabilities directly into business processes, allowing AI to perform tasks like document processing and data analysis within structured workflows. The company generates revenue through two primary segments: 1. Subscription Revenue (approximately 80% of total revenue): This includes cloud-based software subscriptions and on-premises licenses. The cloud subscription component, which represents about 60% of total revenue, has been growing rapidly as customers migrate to cloud-based deployments. 2. Professional Services Revenue (approximately 20% of total revenue): This includes implementation services, training, and ongoing support to help customers deploy and optimize their use of the Appian platform. Appian serves customers across multiple industries, with particular strength in financial services, government (including federal agencies), life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, and healthcare. The company has established a strong presence in the U.S. federal government market, serving all 15 cabinet-level agencies and over 80 federal agencies through specialized solutions like its Government Acquisition Management (GAM) suite.
Revenue model
Appian operates primarily on a subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, generating revenue through recurring cloud subscriptions and professional services. The company's paying customers are typically large enterprises and government agencies that need to automate complex business processes and integrate data across multiple systems. The core revenue model centers on tiered subscription pricing based on usage and feature access. In 2024, Appian introduced an advanced pricing tier that includes AI capabilities, charging approximately a 25% premium over base pricing for AI-enhanced features. The company has been transitioning customers from simple user-based pricing to more sophisticated consumption-based models that account for AI usage, data processing, and advanced features. Professional services revenue complements the subscription model by providing implementation, training, and ongoing support services. While this represents about 20% of total revenue, it serves as both a revenue stream and a mechanism to ensure successful customer deployments, which drives subscription renewals and expansion. Several factors influence Appian's profit margins and revenue growth. Positive margin drivers include the company's high gross margins (approximately 80%), the recurring nature of subscription revenue, and the ability to expand within existing customer accounts through additional licenses and premium features. The company's cloud subscription revenue retention rate of 112-118% indicates strong customer expansion, while a 99% gross renewal rate demonstrates low churn. Margin pressures come from significant investments in research and development, particularly around AI capabilities, and substantial sales and marketing expenses required to acquire enterprise customers. The company's go-to-market costs are elevated due to the complex, consultative sales process required for large enterprise deals, which often involve lengthy evaluation periods and significant customization. Additionally, competition from larger technology companies and other low-code platforms can pressure pricing and require increased marketing investment to maintain market position. The company has been working to improve profitability through operational efficiency initiatives, including workforce reductions and more focused go-to-market spending, while maintaining investment in strategic areas like AI development and key vertical markets.
Competitive moat
Appian's competitive moat is moderate but faces significant challenges from larger technology incumbents. The company's primary defensive advantages stem from several factors, though none create an insurmountable barrier to competition. Customer switching costs represent Appian's strongest moat element. Once enterprises implement Appian's platform for mission-critical business processes, the cost and risk of migrating to alternative solutions becomes substantial. Organizations invest significant time and resources in building workflows, training users, and integrating the platform with existing systems. The 99% gross renewal rate and 112-118% revenue retention rates suggest these switching costs are meaningful. Data integration complexity provides another defensive element. Appian's data fabric technology and deep integration capabilities with enterprise systems create technical dependencies that are difficult to replicate quickly. The platform's ability to unify data from multiple enterprise sources while maintaining security and governance standards requires specialized expertise that takes time to develop. Industry-specific solutions offer some protection in vertical markets like government contracting. Appian's Government Acquisition Management suite and specialized security certifications (including Impact Level 5 authorization for Department of Defense) create regulatory and compliance barriers that competitors must overcome to serve these markets. However, Appian's moat faces significant competitive threats. Large technology companies like Microsoft, Salesforce, and Google have substantial resources to develop competing low-code platforms and can bundle these capabilities with existing enterprise software suites. Microsoft's Power Platform, in particular, benefits from integration with the Office 365 ecosystem that most enterprises already use. The commoditization risk in low-code development is substantial. As visual development tools become more standardized and AI-assisted coding becomes prevalent, the technical differentiation that Appian provides may diminish. Additionally, the company's relatively small size compared to technology giants limits its ability to invest in research and development at the same scale as competitors. Customer concentration in government and financial services also creates vulnerability. Regulatory changes, budget constraints, or shifts in technology procurement policies could significantly impact Appian's market position in these key verticals.
Risks & safety
Appian presents moderate financial risk with improving but still concerning cash flow dynamics and reasonable balance sheet strength. Liquidity and Solvency: • Cash and short-term investments: $135 million (Q1 2025) • Current ratio: 1.25, indicating adequate short-term liquidity • Total liabilities exceed total assets by approximately $32 million, creating technical insolvency • Free cash flow turned positive at $44 million in Q1 2025 after years of negative cash generation • Operating cash flow positive at $45 million in Q1 2025, showing operational improvement Debt and Capital Structure: • Minimal traditional debt burden • Negative shareholders' equity of approximately $32 million due to accumulated losses • Debt-to-equity ratio distorted by negative equity but underlying debt levels are manageable Valuation Metrics: • EV/EBITDA multiple of 79x based on Q1 2025 EBITDA, indicating expensive valuation • Price-to-sales ratio of approximately 3.6x based on current revenue run rate • Company achieving positive adjusted EBITDA as of 2024, showing progress toward profitability Other Considerations: • Recurring subscription revenue model provides revenue predictability • High customer retention rates (99% gross renewal) reduce revenue volatility • Recent operational efficiency improvements suggest management focus on profitability • Still burning cash historically, though recent quarters show improvement
Recent development
Over the past few years, Appian has undergone significant strategic evolution, transitioning from a traditional business process management company to an AI-enhanced low-code automation platform provider. Artificial Intelligence Integration has become the company's primary strategic focus. Beginning in 2023, Appian launched its "Private AI" approach, emphasizing data privacy and enterprise-grade AI deployment within business processes. The company has embedded AI capabilities directly into workflows rather than offering standalone AI tools. By Q1 2025, 70% of cloud customers had adopted AI features, with AI usage growing 7.9x year-over-year. The company introduced AI-inclusive pricing tiers in 2024, generating $9 million in AI-tier revenue by Q1 2025. Government Market Expansion represents another major strategic pivot. Appian has developed specialized solutions for the public sector, including the Government Acquisition Management (GAM) suite and ProcureSight AI service for procurement optimization. The company now serves all 15 U.S. cabinet-level agencies and over 80 federal agencies. Federal government bookings grew 59% year-over-year in Q1 2025, demonstrating the success of this vertical focus. Operational Efficiency Initiatives began in earnest during 2024 as the company shifted from pure growth to profitable growth. Management reduced the workforce by approximately 150 employees, streamlined non-strategic go-to-market expenditures, and focused on larger, more strategic customer deals. These efforts helped the company achieve positive adjusted EBITDA in 2024 and positive free cash flow by Q1 2025. Product Portfolio Expansion has included the launch of several new solutions. Process HQ provides enhanced process mining capabilities, while the data fabric technology unifies enterprise data sources. Appian Portals enables external user access, and the company has developed industry-specific solutions like the KYC (Know Your Customer) offering for financial services. Pricing Strategy Evolution involved introducing tiered pricing structures in February 2024, moving away from simple user-based pricing to value-based pricing that includes advanced features and AI capabilities. Nearly 50% of new customers now purchase above the base tier, and two-thirds of existing customers expanded their software purchases in 2024.
APPN company profile · for informational purposes only — not investment advice.
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