First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in Appian Corporation (NASDAQ:APPN – Free Report) by 16.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,355,961 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 196,021 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 1.83% of Appian worth $32,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of APPN. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Appian by 86.9% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,291,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,470,000 after purchasing an additional 600,336 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Appian by 182.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 237,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,089,000 after purchasing an additional 524,420 shares in the last quarter. Caption Management LLC increased its stake in Appian by 127.3% during the 2nd quarter. Caption Management LLC now owns 80,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,403,000 after purchasing an additional 375,758 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Appian by 475.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 402,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,318,000 after buying an additional 332,992 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in Appian by 269.9% during the 3rd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 346,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,594,000 after buying an additional 252,850 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.70% of the company’s stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets In other Appian news, CRO Mark Dorsey purchased 5,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $19.13 per share, with a total value of $99,992.51. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 13,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $267,686.09. This represents a 59.63% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew W. Calkins sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total transaction of $1,236,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,719,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,497,239.68. This represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 42.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research analysts have weighed in on APPN shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Appian from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Appian in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down from $41.00) on shares of Appian in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Appian from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Appian from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $26.00.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Appian
Appian Stock Up 7.0% NASDAQ:APPN opened at $27.35 on Wednesday. Appian Corporation has a twelve month low of $18.63 and a twelve month high of $46.06. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $23.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.43. The company has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 2,737.74 and a beta of 0.85.
Appian (NASDAQ:APPN – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.08. Appian had a net margin of 0.12% and a negative return on equity of 26.12%. The company had revenue of $202.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $191.56 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Appian has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.940-1.050 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.020-0.020 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Appian Corporation will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
About Appian (Free Report)
Appian Corporation is a global technology company specializing in low-code automation platforms designed to streamline business processes. Founded in 1999 by Matt Calkins, the company provides an integrated suite of tools that enables organizations to build enterprise applications and workflows rapidly with minimal hand coding. The platform combines process management, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and data integration into a single environment, allowing businesses to accelerate digital transformation initiatives.
The core offering, the Appian Low-Code Platform, empowers users—ranging from professional developers to business analysts—to visually model, design and deploy applications that can automate complex operations, orchestrate tasks across systems, and deliver real-time analytics.
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Appian Corporation (NASDAQ:APPN – Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $21.96, but opened at $22.76. Appian shares last traded at $22.61, with a volume of 32,691 shares changing hands.
Analyst Ratings Changes APPN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Appian in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Appian from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Appian from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Appian from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Appian from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Appian presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $26.00.
Get Our Latest Research Report on Appian
Appian Trading Up 8.2% The firm has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2,377.38 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.36 and a 200-day moving average of $24.60.
Appian (NASDAQ:APPN – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $202.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $191.56 million. Appian had a negative return on equity of 26.12% and a net margin of 0.12%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. Appian has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.940-1.050 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at -0.020-0.020 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Appian Corporation will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Insider Activity In related news, CEO Matthew W. Calkins sold 50,000 shares of Appian stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total value of $1,236,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,719,144 shares in the company, valued at $42,497,239.68. This trade represents a 2.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CRO Mark Dorsey bought 5,227 shares of Appian stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $19.13 per share, with a total value of $99,992.51. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive directly owned 13,993 shares in the company, valued at $267,686.09. This trade represents a 59.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 42.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Appian Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Appian during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Appian by 693.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 846 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV bought a new position in Appian in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Appian in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Appian by 175.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.70% of the company’s stock.
About Appian (Get Free Report)
Appian Corporation is a global technology company specializing in low-code automation platforms designed to streamline business processes. Founded in 1999 by Matt Calkins, the company provides an integrated suite of tools that enables organizations to build enterprise applications and workflows rapidly with minimal hand coding. The platform combines process management, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and data integration into a single environment, allowing businesses to accelerate digital transformation initiatives.
The core offering, the Appian Low-Code Platform, empowers users—ranging from professional developers to business analysts—to visually model, design and deploy applications that can automate complex operations, orchestrate tasks across systems, and deliver real-time analytics.
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July 16, 2026 16:05 ET | Source: Appian Corporation
MCLEAN, Va., July 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Appian (NASDAQ: APPN) today announced that it will release financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026, before the U.S. financial markets open on Thursday, August 6, 2026. The company will host a conference call and live webcast to review its financial results and business outlook.
Conference Call Details
The conference call will begin at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. To access the call, please use this Registration Link. Once registered, participants can join the call, using their phone with a dial in and PIN. The conference call will also be available live via webcast on the Investor Relations page of the Company’s website at http://investors.appian.com.
A webcast replay of the conference call can be accessed at http://investors.appian.com after the conclusion of the live conference call.
About Appian
Appian provides AI automation for mission-critical work. We automate complex processes in large enterprises and governments. Our platform is known for its unique reliability and scale. We've been automating processes for more than 25 years and understand enterprise operations like no one else. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]
Appian stands out as a business process re-engineering software company benefiting from long-standing AI and automation tailwinds. Despite a ~30% YTD decline, APPN's modest valuation and recent Q1 beat-and-raise reinforce its 'growth at a reasonable price' thesis. Q1 results highlighted improved net expansion rates and sales productivity, supporting confidence in APPN's operational momentum.
Key Takeaways Appian embeds AI agents within business processes to improve reliability and enterprise outcomes.Appian helped a telecom automate ad compliance reviews with expected 98% accuracy levels.APPN pairs agentic AI with data fabric to enable controlled access across enterprise systems. Appian Corporation (APPN - Free Report) aims to improve the reliability of enterprise AI by embedding agentic capabilities within business processes. While many companies are still evaluating how to generate returns from AI investments, Appian is positioning its platform around practical use cases where accuracy, compliance and operational efficiency are critical.
The company's strategy centers on deploying AI agents within structured business processes rather than allowing agents to operate independently. This approach is designed to improve reliability and help enterprises apply AI to complex workflows that involve large volumes of data, regulatory requirements and business-critical decisions. Appian believes that process controls, data access and monitoring capabilities can improve the effectiveness of AI deployments while reducing the risk of errors.
In the first quarter of 2026, customer adoption provided early evidence of the potential benefits. A telecommunications company expanded its use of Appian to automate compliance reviews across digital advertising operations. By combining AI agents with Appian's data fabric and process framework, the customer expects the solution to verify thousands of advertisements daily, achieve roughly 98% accuracy and reduce resource requirements by 33%.
The broader opportunity extends beyond a single use case. Appian's agentic AI capabilities are supported by data fabric technology that allows enterprises to access information across multiple systems without moving data. This structure can help organizations deploy AI across larger workflows while maintaining visibility and control.
Enterprise customers remain focused on return on investment, and Appian's strategy reflects that reality. Rather than promoting AI as a standalone solution, the company is emphasizing measurable operational outcomes, including labor savings, faster processing and improved accuracy. If customers continue to realize these benefits, agentic AI could become an increasingly important driver of enterprise software spending and strengthen Appian's position in the evolving AI market.
Appian's Competitive LandscapeAppian continues to expand its AI and process automation capabilities as enterprises look to modernize workflows and improve operational efficiency. However, competition remains intense as Pegasystems Inc. (PEGA - Free Report) and Salesforce Inc. (CRM - Free Report) continue investing in AI-driven automation, workflow transformation and enterprise software modernization.
Pegasystems continues to gain traction with an AI-powered workflow design platform that helps organizations redesign business processes and modernize legacy applications. The company is increasingly positioning AI within structured workflows, emphasizing reliability, scalability and long-term enterprise transformation. Growing interest in legacy modernization and workflow redesign is also supporting demand for Pegasystems’ platform.
Meanwhile, Salesforce is expanding the adoption of agentic AI across customer service, sales, marketing and broader enterprise operations. Continued investments in AI agents, automation tools and data integration capabilities are helping customers automate workflows and improve productivity. Salesforce is also embedding AI functionality across a wider range of enterprise applications, further strengthening its position in the evolving AI software market.
As competitors strengthen their AI-driven automation and enterprise transformation offerings, Appian faces increasing pressure to differentiate its platform and sustain growth in a rapidly evolving market.
APPN’s Share Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesAppian’s shares have declined 41.5% in the trailing six months, underperforming the Zacks Computer & Technology sector, the broader Internet - Software industry and the S&P 500 Index.
APPN Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Appian’s shares are currently trading at a discount, with a forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 1.83, as shown in the chart below.
APPN Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Estimates for Appian’s 2026 earnings have moved upward in the past 60 days to 91 cents per share. The estimated figure for 2026 earnings implies growth of 49.2% year over year on projected revenue growth of 13.3%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Appian currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Matthew W. Calkins, CEO and founder of Appian (APPN 2.83%), reported an open-market sale of 50,000 shares for a total of approximately $1.21 million on June 8, 2026, according to a SEC Form 4 filing.
Transaction summaryMetricValueShares sold (direct)50,000Transaction value$1.2 millionPost-transaction shares (direct)1,769,144Post-transaction value (direct ownership)~$43.2 millionTransaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average reported price ($24.13); post-transaction value based on June 8, 2026 market close ($24.43).
Key questionsHow material is this sale relative to Calkins's overall direct ownership?
This transaction accounted for 2.75% of his direct holdings, with 1,769,144 shares remaining under his direct control post-sale.Did the transaction impact any indirect or derivative holdings?
No indirect entities or derivative securities were involved; the entire disposition was executed from Calkins's direct ownership account.How does this sale compare to Calkins's historical activity?
Over the past two years, this is the only open-market sale reported, with prior filings limited to administrative events and no other open-market disposals in this period.Company overviewMetricValueRevenue (TTM)$762.69 millionNet income (TTM)$0.89 millionEmployees2,033Company snapshotAppian provides a low-code automation platform that enables rapid software development, automating workflows, forms, data structures, reports, and user interfaces; it also offers professional services and customer support.The company generates revenue through software subscriptions, platform licensing, and associated consulting and support services.Key customers include organizations in financial services, government, life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, telecommunications, and transportation sectors.Appian is a technology company specializing in low-code software platforms that streamline complex application development for enterprise clients. With a global presence and a diverse client base, Appian leverages automation to deliver efficiency and scalability for organizations across multiple industries.
What this transaction means for investorsThe June 8 sale of Appian stock by company CEO and founder Matthew Calkins came at a time when shares had fallen significantly from their 52-week high of $46.06 reached in 2025. Even so, his disposition is not a red flag for investors.
Calkins’ sale was a non-discretionary transaction, executed automatically as part of a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, which the CEO adopted in March of 2026. Such plans are often implemented by insiders to avoid accusations of trading based on insider information.
Moreover, Calkins retained 1.8 million shares after the disposition. This indicates he maintains a sizable equity stake in the company he founded.
Appian stock is down due to investor concerns that artificial intelligence will take business away. In addition, while the company reported a strong 21% year-over-year increase in first-quarter revenue to $202.2 million, it forecasted only 13% to 14% growth in 2026 compared to 2025. This disappointed Wall Street and contributed to fears of AI’s impact on Appian’s business.
Robert Izquierdo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Appian. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Like much of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) sector, Appian (APPN +1.65%) has had a rough year. Shares of the business process automation company are down 33% year-to-date, falling in line with the rest of the software sector.
The market seems to believe it's vulnerable to competition from AI platforms like Anthropic as the stock fell sharply in late January on a broader sell-off over AI fears, and again in April after Anthropic announced its Mythos AI model, which it said was too powerful to release to the public.
Despite those concerns, Appian hasn't exhibited any weakness in its business. In fact, the company, which is leveraging AI as part of its cloud subscription platform, just reported one of its best quarters in years.
Image source: Getty Images.
Appian's Q1 Appian's total revenue rose 21% to $202.2 million, well ahead of the consensus at $191.8 million. Cloud subscription revenue was up 25% to $124.5 million.
The company's earlier cost-cutting and improved go-to-market efficiency also continued to pay off as adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose from $16.8 million to $26.6 million. It also reported a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) operating profit of $3.2 million. Adjusted earnings per share more than doubled from $0.13 to $0.27, easily beating the consensus at $0.18.
Appian AI is taking off and accelerating the business's growth, as nearly 40% of its customers have purchased AI-inclusive license tiers. Appian is landing and expanding deals with Fortune 500 companies and government agencies that need error-free AI for mission-critical applications.
CEO Matt Calkins also noted that, despite the popularity of vibe-coding, using AI alone to create mission-critical applications is not a viable strategy, as those applications need to be updated and supported through tools such as those that Appian provides.
Appian's solid first-quarter results led it to raise its full-year guidance, calling for revenue of $819 million-$831 million, up 13%-14%, and better than its earlier forecast of $801 million-$817 million. Given the first-quarter growth rate, that forecast is likely conservative.
On the bottom line, it now expects adjusted earnings per share of $0.94-$1.05, up from an earlier forecast of $0.82-$0.96. At the updated guidance, Appian now expects EPS to increase by roughly 60%, showing how far the business has come. Based on that guidance, the stock now trades at a forward P/E of just 23.
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Can Appian break through the software malaise? The biggest challenge for Appian as a stock may be overcoming the negative investor sentiment toward the software sector. As a small-cap stock, it may be particularly hard for the company to change investors' minds on its own.
In an interview with the Motley Fool, CEO Matt Calkins discussed this issue, saying that there's a lot of emotion in the market, adding, "Perception comes with time, and right now, there's a lot of emotion, but not a lot of perception."
Indeed, the pressure from AI start-ups is new, but at this point, Appian's valuation seems like it has compressed enough that that risk is baked in. The company also increased its share repurchase authorization from $50 million to $100 million and plans to execute that buyback this year, which could lower shares outstanding by 5%.
Before the earnings report, Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to equal weight, noting that the environment for seat-based software models is challenged, and said Appian would need to deliver a sustained period of sales acceleration to overcome that headwind.
That seems to summarize the challenge facing both Appian and its software peers, but it may turn out to be more sentiment-driven, as CEO Calkins alluded to. If Appian can keep up its recent momentum and deliver more quarters like this one, the stock should eventually respond.
Key Takeaways Appian beat Q1 estimates as revenues rose 21% and non-GAAP earnings more than doubled year over year.APPN's cloud subscription revenues climbed 25%, with cloud ARR expansion reaching 115%.Appian raised 2026 revenue, EBITDA and adjusted earnings guidance after strong Q1 results. Appian Corporation (APPN - Free Report) reported strong first-quarter 2026 results, with non-GAAP earnings and revenues surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Both metrics increased on a year-over-year basis. The strong quarterly performance reflected healthy growth in cloud subscriptions revenues and professional services revenues.
APPN: Q1 Earnings and Revenue OverviewAppian reported first-quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings of 27 cents per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 42.1% and improving from 13 cents reported in the year-ago quarter.
Revenues of $202.2 million increased 21% year over year and beat the consensus mark by 5.8%.
Subscriptions revenues (79% of total revenues) totaled $160.3 million, up 19% year over year. Professional services revenues (21% of total revenues) increased 31% year over year to $41.9 million.
Cloud subscriptions revenues totaled $124.5 million, up 25% year over year.
Appian’s Q1 Operating DetailsIn the first quarter of 2026, Appian reported a non-GAAP gross margin of 74.2%, down 50 bps year over year.
In the reported quarter, non-GAAP research and development expenses were $42.6 million, up 9.7% year over year. Non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses increased 15.1% year over year to $62.2 million. Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses surged 21.4% year over year to $20.8 million.
The company reported a non-GAAP operating margin of 12%, up 340 bps year over year.
Adjusted EBITDA increased to $26.6 million from $16.8 million reported in the prior-year quarter.
APPN’s Profitability Improves Y/YNon-GAAP net income increased to $19.8 million from $9.8 million reported in the year-ago quarter.
GAAP net loss was $1.5 million compared with a net loss of $1.2 million reported in the prior-year quarter. Interest expense declined to $4.2 million from $5.3 million in the year-ago quarter.
Cloud net annualized recurring revenue expansion was 115% as of March 31, 2026, highlighting healthy customer spending trends and retention levels.
Appian’s Balance Sheet and Cash FlowAs of March 31, 2026, APPN had cash and cash equivalents of $150 million compared with $135.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2025.
Short-term investments and marketable securities totaled $56 million compared with $51.4 million at the end of 2025.
Cash generated by operating activities was $48.8 million in the reported quarter compared with $45 million in the year-ago quarter.
The company repurchased common stock worth $21.8 million during the quarter. Long-term debt was $228.8 million at quarter-end compared with $231.2 million at the end of 2025.
Appian’s Q2 GuidanceFor the second quarter of 2026, Appian expects cloud subscriptions revenues between $126 million and $128 million, indicating year-over-year growth of 18-20% (up from the earlier guidance of $119-$121 million).
The company anticipates total revenues between $191 million and $195 million, calling for a year-over-year increase of 12-14% (up from the prior outlook of $189-$193 million).
Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $5 million and $8 million.
Adjusted earnings are expected between a loss of 2 cents and earnings of 2 cents per share compared with the prior expectation of earnings between 16 cents and 20 cents per share.
APPN Raises Full-Year 2026 OutlookFor 2026, Appian expects cloud subscriptions revenues between $515 million and $521 million (up from the earlier guidance of $502-$510 million), indicating year-over-year growth of 18-19%.
The company anticipates total revenues between $819 million and $831 million (up from the prior outlook of $801-$817 million), suggesting a year-over-year increase of 13-14%.
Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $97 million and $105 million, up from the previous guidance of $89-$99 million.
Adjusted earnings are expected to be between 94 cents and $1.05 per share, up from the earlier guided range of 82-96 cents per share.
APPN’s Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderAppian currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks worth considering in the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector are Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) , Broadcom (AVGO - Free Report) and NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) . Micron Technology sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Broadcom and NVIDIA each carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Micron Technology’s fiscal 2026 earnings has been revised upward by 10 cents to $58.46 per share in the past 30 days, suggesting an increase of 605.2% from fiscal 2025’s reported figure. Micron Technology shares have surged 126.6% year to date (YTD).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Broadcom’s fiscal 2026 earnings has moved northward by 9 cents to $11.45 per share over the past 30 days and calls for a year-over-year jump of 67.9%. Broadcom shares have soared 19.2% YTD.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVIDIA’s fiscal 2027 earnings has moved upward by 4 cents to $8.07 per share in the past 30 days, implying a year-over-year improvement of approximately 69.2%. NVIDIA shares have risen 13.4% YTD.
For the quarter ended March 2026, Appian (APPN - Free Report) reported revenue of $202.18 million, up 21.5% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $0.27, compared to $0.13 in the year-ago quarter.
The reported revenue represents a surprise of +5.79% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $191.12 million. With the consensus EPS estimate being $0.19, the EPS surprise was +45.95%.
While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.
Since these metrics play a crucial role in driving the top- and bottom-line numbers, comparing them with the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated about them helps investors better project a stock's price performance.
Here is how Appian performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:
Subscriptions gross margin: 85.7% versus the two-analyst average estimate of 87.2%.Professional services gross margin: 24.7% compared to the 26.9% average estimate based on two analysts.Revenue- Professional services: $41.87 million versus $36.85 million estimated by two analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +30.5% change.Revenue- Subscriptions: $160.31 million versus $154.27 million estimated by two analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +19.3% change.View all Key Company Metrics for Appian here>>>
Shares of Appian have returned +11.3% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +11% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.
Key Takeaways Appian's Q1 cloud subscription revenues rose 25% year over year to $124.5 million.APPN said its AI pipeline remains above expectations amid rising enterprise automation demand.DocCenter processed more pages in Q1 than all of 2025 combined as adoption accelerated. Appian Corporation (APPN - Free Report) is seeing growing benefits from rising enterprise interest in artificial intelligence (“AI”) adoption, particularly in process automation and workflow management. Companies are increasingly shifting AI spending toward practical and large-scale use cases instead of experimental projects. This trend may continue supporting Appian’s cloud business as enterprises look for platforms that can combine AI capabilities with reliability, governance and operational efficiency.
The company’s first-quarter cloud subscription revenues increased 25% year over year to $124.5 million. The growth appears closely tied to higher enterprise demand for AI-enabled automation tools and larger strategic deployments. Management indicated that the company’s AI-related pipeline remains above internal expectations heading into the rest of 2026.
A key differentiator for Appian is its focus on integrating AI into regulated and mission-critical workflows. Many enterprises continue to face challenges around AI accuracy, compliance and operational risk. Appian’s process-driven framework aims to address these concerns by combining automation tools with AI capabilities. This positioning may help the company benefit as enterprises move toward broader production-level AI deployments.
DocCenter is emerging as an important contributor to cloud momentum. The platform uses AI to process and extract information from documents with more than 95% accuracy. Adoption increased across industries during the quarter, with customers using the platform to automate invoice processing, document verification and operational workflows. Management stated that customers processed more document pages in the first quarter than in all of 2025 combined, reflecting increasing deployment activity.
Large enterprise deals also suggest that modernization demand remains healthy. Customers across insurance, healthcare, energy and automotive industries expanded Appian deployments to reduce costs and consolidate legacy systems.
Going forward, Appian expects cloud subscription revenues between $515 million and $521 million for full-year 2026, representing year-over-year growth of 18% at the midpoint of the range. Continued enterprise AI adoption, expanding modernization projects and larger strategic contracts may remain important drivers for the company’s cloud growth trajectory.
APPN’s Share Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesAppian’s shares have declined 52% in the trailing six months, underperforming the Zacks Computer & Technology sector’s rise of 16.4% and the Zacks Internet - Software industry’s decline of 13.1%.
The stock has underperformed Docusign (DOCU - Free Report) and Salesforce, Inc.’s (CRM - Free Report) 30.9% and 26.1% decline, respectively, during the same time period.
APPN Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Appian’s shares are currently trading at a discount, with a forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 1.93, as shown in the chart below. Also, Appian appears cheaper than Docusign and Salesforce 2.61 and 3.15, respectively.
APPN Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Appian’s 2026 earnings estimate has remained unchanged at 89 cents per share over the past 30 days. The estimated figure for 2026 earnings implies growth of 45.9% year over year on projected revenue growth of 11.3%.
Key Takeaways APPN stock lost 19.2% post-Q1 as investors fixated on softer-than-expected Q2 outlook.APPN Q1: revenue $202.2M ( 21%); cloud subs $124.5M ( 25%); net ARR expansion 115%.APPN Q2 guide: revenue $191-$195M, adj. EBITDA $5-$8M; buyback authorization raised to $100M. Appian Corporation (APPN - Free Report) shares have come under pressure following the company’s first-quarter 2026 results released on May 7. APPN stock has plunged 19.2% since the earnings release, underperforming the Zacks Internet - Software industry’s 1.3% decline and lagging the S&P 500 Index and the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector, both of which gained 0.3% during the same period.
APPN Price Performance (Post Q1 Release)
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Appian remains one of the leading players in low-code automation and enterprise process orchestration. The company is also increasingly positioning itself as a serious enterprise AI platform focused on regulated and mission-critical workflows. With improving margins and strong cloud subscription growth, could the recent decline prove attractive for investors willing to look beyond near-term volatility?
Weak Q2 Outlook Triggered the Selloff of APPN StockDespite the strong quarter, investors reacted negatively to Appian’s second-quarter guidance.
For the second quarter of 2026, Appian expects total revenues between $191 million and $195 million, implying year-over-year growth of 12-14%. The company also expects adjusted EBITDA between $5 million and $8 million, far below the first quarter’s level. Non-GAAP earnings per share are projected to be between a loss of 2 cents and a profit of 2 cents.
The weaker profitability outlook overshadowed the strong first-quarter 2026 performance. Management attributed part of the sequential margin pressure to seasonal marketing and event expenses in the second quarter.
Still, the guidance raised concerns about slowing momentum after Appian’s strong start to 2026. Investors also remain cautious about the broader software spending environment, especially for enterprise automation projects that can face longer sales cycles during uncertain macroeconomic conditions.
Another challenge is competition. The low-code and AI automation market remains highly competitive, with both large enterprise software vendors and niche automation specialists investing aggressively in AI capabilities. Appian must continue innovating to defend its market position and sustain growth. The company also remains GAAP unprofitable. While margins are improving, Appian continues to carry a sizable accumulated deficit and more than $238 million in total debt.
Strong Cloud Momentum Continues for APPN StockAppian delivered a strong first quarter. Total revenue increased 21% year over year to $202.2 million, while cloud subscriptions revenue rose 25% to $124.5 million. Total subscriptions revenue climbed 19% to $160.3 million.
The company’s AI-focused offerings continued to gain traction. Management noted that nearly 40% of customers have now adopted Appian’s AI-inclusive license tiers. Cloud net ARR expansion improved to 115% in the quarter from 112% a year ago, reflecting healthy customer expansion activity and successful upselling efforts.
Management highlighted strong momentum in Appian’s DocCenter product, which uses AI for enterprise document processing. According to the company, customers processed more document pages in the first quarter of 2026 than they did during all of 2025 combined.
The company also pointed to growing demand for AI-driven workflow automation in highly regulated industries such as insurance, healthcare, telecom and energy. Several large customers expanded deployments during the quarter, including a global oil and gas company that signed a seven-figure deal to automate invoice processing and procurement workflows using Appian’s AI-powered platform.
Another encouraging sign is the company’s growing traction in legacy modernization. Enterprises are increasingly looking to replace outdated software systems with modern AI-enabled platforms, and Appian believes this trend could become a major long-term growth driver. Management noted that a large European automotive manufacturer selected Appian as its core modernization platform and signed a seven-figure software deal during the quarter.
Margins and Cash Flow Are Moving Higher for APPN StockProfitability trends were also encouraging in the quarter. Appian reported adjusted EBITDA of $26.6 million, up significantly from $16.8 million in the prior-year quarter. Non-GAAP net income increased to $19.8 million from $9.8 million a year ago.
The company’s non-GAAP gross margin remained healthy at 74%, while subscription gross margin stood at 86%. Professional services gross margin improved to 29% from 25% a year ago, reflecting better utilization and operating leverage.
Cash generation also remained strong. Net cash provided by operating activities totaled $48.8 million during the first quarter compared with $45 million in the prior-year period. Cash, cash equivalents and investments increased to roughly $206 million as of March 31, 2026. Importantly, Appian expanded its share repurchase authorization from $50 million to $100 million, signaling confidence in its long-term outlook. The company already repurchased $21.8 million worth of stock during the quarter.
Management also emphasized that Appian’s go-to-market efficiency metric improved for the 11th straight quarter. The company appears to be balancing growth and profitability more effectively than in previous years.
Appian Faces Strong Competition in Enterprise AutomationThe enterprise automation and low-code market remains crowded, with several well-funded players competing aggressively for large enterprise customers.
Pegasystems Inc. (PEGA - Free Report) remains one of Appian’s biggest competitors in process automation and case management. Pegasystems has a strong presence in financial services and customer engagement workflows. Pegasystems continues investing heavily in AI-powered automation capabilities, making it a formidable rival in large enterprise accounts. Pegasystems also benefits from deep relationships with government and regulated-industry customers, an area where Appian is trying to expand further.
ServiceNow Inc. (NOW - Free Report) is another major competitor. ServiceNow has aggressively expanded beyond IT workflows into broader enterprise automation and AI-driven operations. ServiceNow’s large installed customer base and growing generative AI offerings make it one of the strongest competitive threats in workflow orchestration and enterprise productivity software. ServiceNow’s scale and ecosystem advantages remain difficult for smaller vendors to match.
Salesforce Inc. (CRM - Free Report) also competes with Appian through its low-code and AI automation initiatives. Salesforce continues to integrate AI capabilities across its enterprise software stack and expand automation tools for customer workflows. Salesforce benefits from its massive enterprise reach, while its AI investments continue attracting customers looking for unified workflow and customer engagement solutions.
Even with these competitive pressures, Appian continues to differentiate itself through process-centric AI automation, high-security deployments and strong workflow orchestration capabilities for regulated industries.
APPN Stock Looks Cheap Relative to Growth PotentialOne of the more attractive aspects of the current setup is valuation. APPN stock currently trades at 1.65X forward 12-month sales, well below the Zacks Internet - Software industry average of 3.68X.
APPN Valuation - P/E F12M
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Considering the company is expected to grow revenues 13.3% in 2026 and another 10.6% in 2027, the valuation appears relatively reasonable.
APPN Revenue Estimates
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Earnings expectations are also moving in the right direction. Over the past seven days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 EPS increased to 94 cents from 89 cents. The estimate implies 54.1% year-over-year earnings growth. Meanwhile, 2027 EPS is projected to be $1.19, suggesting another 26.6% increase.
APPN EPS Estimate
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The company also raised its full-year guidance following the strong first quarter. Appian now expects 2026 total revenues between $819 million and $831 million and adjusted EBITDA between $97 million and $105 million.
Is APPN Stock a Buy After the Pullback?Appian’s post-earnings selloff appears driven more by near-term guidance concerns than deterioration in the company’s broader business fundamentals.
The company continues delivering strong cloud subscription growth, improving profitability and expanding enterprise AI adoption. Demand for AI-enabled process automation and legacy modernization also remains favorable. Meanwhile, Appian’s discounted valuation relative to the software industry provides some downside support.
Near-term risks remain. Slower second-quarter guidance, macro uncertainty and intense competition could continue pressuring investor sentiment. However, Appian’s improving execution, expanding AI traction and rising earnings estimates suggest that the long-term growth story remains intact.
With APPN currently carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), the recent pullback may offer a favorable entry point for investors looking to gain exposure to enterprise AI automation and low-code software trends. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
"Everyone is overlooking the elephant under the rug, and that's the spending," says Matt Calkins, CEO of Appian (APPN). He explains how investors should pay more attention to the hidden costs he associates with the AI trade.
Is Appian The AI Play Investors Have Completely Missed?Appian NASDAQ: APPN executives used the company’s Investor Day 2026 in New York to frame the software maker as a provider of “complex process automation” for regulated industries and as a platform for making artificial intelligence more reliable in enterprise workflows.
Chief Financial Officer Serge Tanjga opened the event by saying Appian crossed the $700 million revenue mark last year, has 140 customers paying more than $1 million per year in software and expects to generate approximately $100 million in EBITDA this year. He said the company wants investors to leave with four points: Appian is mission-critical for customers, it is an “essential AI enabler,” it is improving sales efficiency and it has multiple ways to increase profitability per share.
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Appian Emphasizes AI Within Deterministic Processes Beyond the Magnificent 7: Tech’s Rising StarsFounder and Chief Executive Officer Matt Calkins said Appian is a “worldwide leader in complex process automation” and argued that the company’s process technology gives it a differentiated role in enterprise AI. He described AI as powerful but probabilistic, meaning it can produce different answers to the same prompt, while Appian’s process layer is designed to add controls, validation, routing, auditability and human review.
“We don’t trust AI, but we know that if you put it in with all these restrictions, it’s going to give you a great output,” Calkins said. He said AI is most valuable in high-stakes processes when it is assigned narrow tasks, constrained actions and monitored outcomes.
UiPath: Has the Bar Been Set Too Low for This AI Robotic Leader?Calkins cited several customer examples, including a major financial services conglomerate using Appian for fraud management, a global pharmaceutical company using the platform for medicine quality control and a U.S. military branch using Appian for provisioning. He said Appian’s customer base includes seven of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies, seven of the top 10 insurers, eight of the top 10 non-Chinese banks, all 15 U.S. government agencies, U.S. military agencies and governments in 20 countries.
On AI adoption, Calkins said 40% of Appian’s customer base is paying Appian for AI and said usage has grown sharply, with the first quarter exceeding all of 2025 combined. He highlighted Doc Center, Appian’s AI-powered document processing product, saying hundreds of organizations are using it.
Product Leaders Highlight Data Fabric, Agents and Modernization Sanat Joshi, executive vice president of product and innovations, said Appian’s platform is built around process orchestration, Appian Data Fabric, process intelligence and enterprise-grade security and scalability. He said the company’s Data Fabric creates a virtual layer over source systems, allowing processes and AI agents to read and write to systems of record while preserving access controls.
Joshi said Appian customers run billions of processes each month and require high levels of availability and security. He also said Appian recently launched Appian Government Cloud at Department of Defense Impact Level 5 and FedRAMP High, and was awarded a $500 million contract to do business with the U.S. Army.
Jake Rank, vice president of product management, said Appian uses AI in several ways, including individual AI tasks inside workflows, Doc Center for document processing and AI agents. He said Appian agents can use Data Fabric, process models, business rules and integrations while staying within governance controls. Rank also described Appian Composer, a spec-driven development tool designed to use AI to extract requirements from legacy systems, collaborate on application plans and generate Appian applications.
Customers Discuss Regulated Use Cases During a customer panel led by Marc Wilson, Appian’s chief executive ambassador, Scott Morris, chief technology officer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, said NAIC used Appian to replace a 20- to 25-year-old platform for insurance product and rate filings. Morris said Appian is helping automate intake and document classification, and that Doc Center is achieving about a 98% effective rate in classifying documents.
Bob LeBaron, senior vice president at Neuberger Berman, said the firm uses Appian for deal-closing workflows and fund and investor onboarding. He said Doc Center is being used to extract data from lengthy and varied subscription documents, with the goal of reducing human data entry and improving consistency in checks.
Keith Koharski, executive director and head of global development IT at Regeneron, said the pharmaceutical company uses Appian in study code development to bring together internal and third-party data across functions. He said Regeneron views AI through a hybrid approach and still relies on scientific debate and human decision-making in regulated processes.
PwC and Appian Discuss Legacy Modernization Dan Scott, a principal in PwC’s cloud and engineering practice, said PwC sees Appian as an application platform and said AI has increased interest in legacy modernization. Scott said customers are looking to move “end user computing,” including Access and Excel applications, into systems that can be made more useful with agents and workflow.
Scott said clients need more than coding tools, describing the need for an “AI stack” that includes knowledge management, ticketing, workflow, security controls and data governance. He said Appian’s combination of deterministic processes and agentic capabilities is creating new opportunities for PwC’s Appian practice.
Financial Outlook and Go-to-Market Changes Chief Revenue Officer Mark Dorsey said he has shifted Appian’s sales organization toward value-based selling, larger strategic deals and executive-level relationships. He said Appian sold more seven-figure deals last year than in any prior year in company history and has added senior sales talent from companies including Google, Adobe, IBM, Salesforce, Microsoft and ServiceNow.
Dorsey said the company is focused on pipeline, enablement, forecasting discipline and enterprise growth plans that allow large customers to expand usage across the organization. He said Appian is also exploring consumption-based pricing and using AI internally in sales processes.
Tanjga said Appian ended last year with more than $600 million in annual recurring revenue, with roughly 80% of ARR in the cloud. He said the company’s four major industry categories account for about 80% of ARR and that the number of customers spending more than $1 million annually with Appian has doubled over five years.
For 2026, Tanjga said Appian is forecasting $825 million in revenue at the midpoint of guidance, representing 13% growth, and about $100 million in EBITDA. He said Appian expects non-GAAP earnings per share of $1 at the midpoint, aided by revenue growth, margin expansion, lower interest expense and share repurchases. Tanjga also said Appian increased its buyback authorization from $50 million to $100 million after a strong start to the year.
About Appian NASDAQ: APPNAppian Corporation is a global technology company specializing in low-code automation platforms designed to streamline business processes. Founded in 1999 by Matt Calkins, the company provides an integrated suite of tools that enables organizations to build enterprise applications and workflows rapidly with minimal hand coding. The platform combines process management, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and data integration into a single environment, allowing businesses to accelerate digital transformation initiatives.
The core offering, the Appian Low-Code Platform, empowers users—ranging from professional developers to business analysts—to visually model, design and deploy applications that can automate complex operations, orchestrate tasks across systems, and deliver real-time analytics.
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Mark Dorsey, Chief Revenue Officer of Appian (APPN +1.65%), a low-code automation platform provider, reported the direct acquisition of 5,227 shares of Common Stock in multiple open-market transactions on May 13, 2026, according to the SEC Form 4 filing.
Transaction summaryMetricValueShares traded5,227Transaction value~$100,000Post-transaction shares (direct)13,993Post-transaction value (direct ownership)~$267,700Transaction and post-transaction values based on SEC Form 4 weighted average purchase price ($19.13).
Key questionsWhat is the significance of this transaction in the context of Mark Dorsey's historical activity at Appian?
This is the first open-market purchase by Dorsey in the disclosed history, marking a 59.63% increase in direct holdings, whereas all prior transactions were administrative with no change in economic exposure.How does the transaction price compare to recent pricing levels and the one-year share performance?
The weighted average purchase price of $19.13 per share was above the May 13, 2026 closing price, and the stock has declined 39.98% over the past year as of the transaction date.Were there any derivative or plan-based mechanics involved in this acquisition?
No options, derivatives, or indirect holdings were involved; the entire transaction was a direct open-market purchase with no indication of a pre-arranged trading plan.Company overviewMetricValueMarket capitalization$1.43 billionRevenue (TTM)$762.69 millionNet income (TTM)$0.89 million1-year price change(39.98%)* 1-year price change calculated using May 13, 2026 as the reference date.
Company snapshotAppian offers a low-code automation platform enabling customers to build forms, workflows, data structures, reports, and user interfaces, complemented by professional and customer support services.The company serves a diverse client base across financial services, government, life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, telecommunications, and transportation sectors.Appian operates at scale in the enterprise software market, providing a robust low-code automation platform designed to accelerate digital transformation for organizations.
The company’s strategy centers on enabling rapid application development and process automation, reducing the need for manual coding and increasing operational efficiency. Appian’s broad industry reach and focus on recurring revenue underpin its competitive positioning in the technology sector.
What this transaction means for investorsThe May 13 purchase of Appian shares by its Chief Revenue Officer, Mark Dorsey, suggests he is bullish on the stock. The company was one of the many software businesses that were caught up in a sell-off during the first quarter of 2026.
Wall Street became worried that artificial intelligence would replace software companies, such as Appian, leading to its stock falling to a 52-week low of $18.63 on May 14, the day after Dorsey’s purchase. It appears he felt shares had reached an attractive price level and bought.
Despite Wall Street’s fears, Appian’s business is doing well. It ended 2025 with revenue of $726.9 million, up from the prior year’s $617 million. The company expects 2026 sales to continue growing, forecasting between $819 million and $831 million.
With the fall in its share price, Appian’s price-to-sales ratio of two is around a low point for the past year. This suggests now is a good time to buy the stock.
Robert Izquierdo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Appian. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Key Takeaways APPN Q1 cloud subscriptions jumped 25% to $124.5M. Total revenues rose 21% to $202.2M.APPN posted 115% cloud net ARR expansion, with nearly 40% of customers using AI-inclusive tiers.APPN lifted FY cloud outlook to $515M-$521M. Q1 Adjusted EBITDA hit $26.6M and Rule of 40 touched 42. Appian Corporation’s (APPN - Free Report) first-quarter 2026 financial results delivered clear evidence that the company's growth momentum is reaccelerating. Cloud subscription revenues rose 25% year over year to $124.5 million, while total revenues increased 21% to $202.2 million. The company also reported 115% cloud net ARR expansion, up from 112% a year ago, suggesting stronger expansion within the existing customer base. Management highlighted strong demand for AI-powered automation, particularly for its DocCenter and Agentic AI offerings, which are gaining traction across regulated industries and large enterprises.
The key driver behind the improving outlook is AI. Management said AI demand is pushing Appian’s 2026 pipeline above expectations, with nearly 40% of customers now using AI-inclusive license tiers. DocCenter, in particular, is emerging as a broad enterprise use case, with customers processing more document pages during the first quarter of 2026 than in all of 2025 combined. At the same time, Appian continues to benefit from momentum in enterprise modernization initiatives and larger strategic deals tied to process automation and AI deployment.
The key question is whether this marks a return to sustainable 20%-plus cloud growth. On a constant-currency basis, cloud subscription revenues grew 20%, which management noted was Appian’s fastest pace in two years. At the same time, profitability continued to improve alongside growth. Adjusted EBITDA reached $26.6 million, comfortably above guidance, while Appian’s weighted Rule of 40 score rose to 42, its highest level since the company introduced the metric last year. The company also raised its full-year outlook, now projecting cloud subscription revenues between $515 million and $521 million, representing 18%-19% annual growth.
Overall, Appian’s first-quarter performance strengthens the case that growth is reaccelerating, especially as AI adoption, enterprise modernization and larger strategic deals gain momentum. But for now, sustainable 20%-plus growth remains a possibility rather than the base case.
Appian Faces Intensifying Competition From Pegasystems & SalesforceAppian continues to strengthen its position in the enterprise automation and AI-driven workflow market through the rising adoption of its AI-powered process automation platform. However, the company faces intensifying competition from Pegasystems Inc. (PEGA - Free Report) and Salesforce Inc. (CRM - Free Report) , both of which are aggressively expanding their AI and enterprise automation capabilities.
Pegasystems is benefiting from accelerating demand for Pega Cloud, AI-driven workflow automation and enterprise modernization initiatives. The company also highlighted growing momentum from Blueprint, its AI-powered workflow design platform, which is helping expand pipeline activity and new customer acquisition. Pegasystems expects Pega Cloud ACV to continue increasing as customers migrate away from traditional on-premise and maintenance-based deployments toward cloud-native automation solutions.
Meanwhile, Salesforce is rapidly scaling its enterprise AI ecosystem through Agentforce, Data 360 and Slack-integrated automation tools. The company reported strong demand for AI-enabled enterprise workflows, with wins above $1 million rising 26% year over year in fourth-quarter fiscal 2026. Salesforce said Agentforce has become an approximately $800 million business, while combined Agentforce and Data 360 ARR exceeded $2.9 billion in fourth-quarter fiscal 2026, representing 200% year-over-year growth.
APPN’s Share Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesAppian’s shares have declined 48.3% in the trailing six months, underperforming the Zacks Computer & Technology sector, the broader Internet - Software industry and the S&P 500 Index.
APPN Stock Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Appian’s shares are currently trading at a discount, with a forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 1.83, as shown in the chart below.
APPN Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Estimates for Appian’s 2026 earnings have moved upward in the past 30 days to 91 cents per share. The estimated figure for 2026 earnings implies growth of 49.2% year over year on projected revenue growth of 13.3%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Appian currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
May 26, 2026 07:00 ET | Source: Appian Corporation
MCLEAN, Va., May 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Appian (NASDAQ: APPN), today announced that Serge Tanjga, Chief Financial Officer, will present at the following upcoming conferences:
TD Cowen Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
Thursday, May 28, 2026
A fireside chat is scheduled for 1:50pm Eastern Time and will be webcast live at the following link: (https://event.summitcast.com/view/GSXkFLqLwmvLB7AnnUj3ti/guest_book?session_id=kC9mPwZXvHgRzkuDhxcPgo)
William Blair Growth Stock Conference
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
A presentation is scheduled for 2:40pm Central Time and will be webcast live at the following link: (https://event.summitcast.com/view/DTqswnj6gGSWZ7ywFcvpAo/guest_book?session_id=UpCgmNQGvBbw7QX5eHbEGc)
Replays of the fireside chat and presentation will be available for a limited time under the “News and Events” section of the Company’s investor relations website at http://investors.appian.com.
About Appian
Appian provides process automation technology. We automate complex processes in large enterprises and governments. Our platform is known for its unique reliability and scale. We’ve been automating processes for 25 years and understand enterprise operations like no one else. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]
Is Appian The AI Play Investors Have Completely Missed?Appian NASDAQ: APPN Chief Financial Officer Serge Tanjga said the company is seeing growing customer adoption of artificial intelligence features, while emphasizing that enterprises are taking a cautious approach to deploying AI in mission-critical workflows.
Speaking at a TD Cowen software conference in a discussion moderated by Senior Analyst Derrick Wood, Tanjga described Appian as a process automation company focused on complex, highly regulated environments. He said the company has been automating mission-critical processes for more than 25 years and expects to generate more than $800 million in revenue this year.
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Beyond the Magnificent 7: Tech’s Rising StarsTanjga said Appian primarily serves four verticals: financial services, insurance, life sciences and government. Those industries account for roughly 80% of the company’s annual recurring revenue, he said. He added that Appian’s customer base includes eight of the top 10 global banks, seven of the top 10 insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and all 15 branches of the U.S. government.
Appian Highlights Mission-Critical Use Cases Tanjga pointed to several customer examples to illustrate how Appian’s platform is used. One large global financial institution uses Appian to monitor fraud in money transfers, he said. Before Appian, the process involved six disparate systems, spreadsheets and significant manual labor. After implementing an Appian layer and using AI to automate investigations, the institution reduced the time to investigate a case to 38 seconds, cut the overall process by 98% and reduced risk by three-quarters, according to Tanjga.
UiPath: Has the Bar Been Set Too Low for This AI Robotic Leader?He also cited a branch of the U.S. military using Appian to manage the ammunition lifecycle. Tanjga said the organization replaced a legacy system handling about 1 million transactions a month and now has near real-time visibility into global ammunition status in a high-security IL5 environment.
“It really comes down to we replace homegrown systems, other automation tools that have failed, or a tremendous amount of spreadsheets and manual labor,” Tanjga said.
AI Adoption Is Rising, But Many Projects Remain Early Tanjga framed Appian’s AI strategy in two categories: “AI as a worker” inside a process and “AI as an author” used to create applications. He said Appian’s approach is to deploy AI selectively, with guardrails, rather than allowing AI to operate broadly across an enterprise without oversight.
For AI used inside workflows, Tanjga said Appian surrounds AI with checks, routes uncertain outcomes to humans, uses multiple large language models in some cases and maintains auditability. He said this approach is resonating with customers because Appian is using AI “deliberately and surgically” when it is the best tool for a specific task.
On AI-generated applications, Tanjga said so-called vibe coding can be powerful at the start but can create reliability and maintenance challenges, particularly for banks, insurers and government agencies. He said customers must be able to understand, troubleshoot and maintain applications over time.
“AI is an exceptionally powerful tool,” Tanjga said. “But as you think about it, employing it repeatedly at a core of a real enterprise, it needs the support, it needs the harness, it needs the guardrails, and that’s what Appian provides.”
Advanced Tier Drives AI Monetization Tanjga said 70% to 80% of Appian customers are using AI in some form, though much of that activity remains in proof-of-concept stages. To use AI in production with Appian, customers must upgrade to the company’s Advanced tier, which carries a 25% to 35% license premium, he said.
On Appian’s most recent earnings call, the company said 40% of its customers are paying for AI tiers, Tanjga noted. At its investor day, Appian disclosed it had reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue on the Advanced tier, compared with a base of just over $600 million of ARR last year.
Tanjga said customers often begin with a first production use case, frequently with help from Appian’s professional services team. As those use cases grow, customers may need to purchase additional AI consumption. He said Appian expects some customers to buy committed AI usage in advance, while others may pay in arrears at a higher price.
He also said Appian has a Premium tier that could eventually include additional AI functionality, representing another potential 25% to 35% uplift, though he characterized that as a future opportunity.
DocCenter Seen as a Key AI Opportunity Tanjga said one area of incremental investment is Appian’s DocCenter, an AI-enabled document processing solution. He described document processing as a horizontal use case across enterprises, particularly for difficult documents such as handwritten prescriptions, stained forms or older copied records.
According to Tanjga, Appian is able to help customers achieve accuracy above 95%, compared with legacy solutions in the 60% to 70% range. He said the product’s advantage is that document processing is integrated into business processes rather than operating as a standalone cleanup tool.
He said Appian is seeing success with DocCenter across insurance, government and life sciences customers and is improving how it productizes, sells and implements the solution.
Sales Execution, Margins and Competition Tanjga said Appian has made changes to its go-to-market organization over the past 12 to 18 months, including leadership changes, improved forecasting, stronger deal qualification and more discipline around pricing, packaging and discounting. He said the company has focused more on large strategic deals and selling based on value rather than volume.
He said Appian delivered its best year of new business growth in four years while making those changes, and the company has “earned the right” to grow its sales organization again after pausing expansion for two years.
On internal efficiency, Tanjga said Appian is using AI across its own operations, especially in research and development. He said the company is rethinking the software development lifecycle with AI and aims to accelerate innovation without accelerating investment. He also said Appian expects more than 100 basis points of margin expansion this year, following nearly 20 percentage points of combined improvement in 2023 and 2024.
Tanjga said the competitive landscape has not changed materially. He identified Pega as a competitor in higher-complexity workloads and also named ServiceNow, Salesforce and Microsoft as competitors. He said Appian’s win rates have been stable and strong, and added that when AI is a specific requirement, Appian’s win rates are “significantly higher.”
About Appian NASDAQ: APPNAppian Corporation is a global technology company specializing in low-code automation platforms designed to streamline business processes. Founded in 1999 by Matt Calkins, the company provides an integrated suite of tools that enables organizations to build enterprise applications and workflows rapidly with minimal hand coding. The platform combines process management, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and data integration into a single environment, allowing businesses to accelerate digital transformation initiatives.
The core offering, the Appian Low-Code Platform, empowers users—ranging from professional developers to business analysts—to visually model, design and deploy applications that can automate complex operations, orchestrate tasks across systems, and deliver real-time analytics.
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Appian Corporation maintains a Hold rating due to robust revenue growth but ongoing lack of steady profitability and negative equity. APPN's Q1 showed 25% YoY cloud subscription growth and 31% YoY professional services growth, with FY26 revenue guidance of 18–19%. Operating cash flow is recovering, debt is declining, and share buybacks are ongoing, yet competitive pressures and muted upside persist.
Is Appian The AI Play Investors Have Completely Missed?Appian NASDAQ: APPN Chief Financial Officer Serge Tanjga said the company is seeing stronger traction with large enterprise and government customers as it positions its low-code automation platform around regulated, mission-critical workflows and embedded artificial intelligence.
Speaking at William Blair’s 46th Annual Growth Stock Conference, Tanjga described Appian as a “process automation platform” focused on complex, cross-functional processes in regulated industries. He said 80% of the company’s annual recurring revenue comes from four verticals: financial services, insurance, life sciences and the public sector.
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Beyond the Magnificent 7: Tech’s Rising StarsTanjga pointed to customer examples including a financial institution using Appian to monitor fraud and a branch of the U.S. military using the platform to manage ammunition supply-chain workflows. In the fraud example, he said the customer replaced six disparate systems with a single workflow, reducing investigation time by 98% and lowering fraud risk by three-quarters. In the military example, he said Appian is being used in a highly secure IL5 environment to support roughly one million transactions per month.
Focus on regulated industries and large customers Tanjga said Appian’s customer base relies on the platform because of both product capabilities and trust built over more than 25 years. He highlighted automation tools, integrations, bots, AI capabilities, Data Fabric, Process Mining and compliance certifications as key parts of the company’s offering.
UiPath: Has the Bar Been Set Too Low for This AI Robotic Leader?He said more than 70% of Appian’s business comes from customers spending more than $1 million annually. Those customers are often deeply embedded in the platform and use internal development teams to build additional workflows on Appian, Tanjga said.
The company has shifted more attention toward larger strategic deals, he said, after previously spending too much time on smaller deals in the lower end of enterprise and mid-market accounts. Appian reduced its sales organization more than two years ago and refocused on the high end of the market, Tanjga said.
William Blair analyst Pat McIlwee noted that Appian’s number of customers with more than $1 million in annual recurring revenue grew 22% last year to 140, up from 5% growth the prior year. Tanjga said the average spend per seven-figure customer also increased last year, despite growth in the number of customers in that cohort.
AI positioned as part of workflow automation Tanjga said Appian views AI as “another type of worker” within a broader business process. He said AI can help with tasks such as information extraction, checking and reasoning through ambiguity, but its accuracy is not yet sufficient on its own for the highly regulated environments Appian serves.
Appian’s approach, he said, is to assign AI specific tasks within workflows, check its work and sometimes use multiple models to confirm outputs. If uncertainty remains, the workflow can route the exception to a human user.
“Our position to customers has always been, figure out how to use AI in processes that actually drive your business,” Tanjga said, adding that customers want to capture AI’s speed and cost benefits while managing its limitations.
Tanjga said customer conversations have shifted over the past year, with more enterprises asking late-stage questions about pricing, packaging, change management and implementation. He cited presentations at Appian’s customer conference from companies including Pfizer and CIBC Mellon as examples of customers discussing AI use cases.
Pricing, AI monetization and Composer Tanjga said Appian’s pricing varies based on customer preference, including user-based pricing, per-application pricing, Appian Success Plans and consumption models. He said the company has raised prices consistently year over year for multiple years.
On AI monetization, Tanjga said customers need to upgrade their Appian licenses to access AI features in production. He said moving to the advanced tier can represent a 25% to 35% uplift. That tier includes a moderate amount of AI usage, with additional consumption available through incremental AI usage bundles.
He said 40% of Appian customers have access to the company’s AI features and that $100 million of annual recurring revenue is at that level.
Tanjga also discussed Composer, an AI-assisted development product that Appian made generally available in December. He said Composer uses natural language elements to help developers and business users build applications faster and at lower cost. Early modernization cases are showing more than 25% improvement compared with normal methods, he said, while adding that Appian aims to continue improving efficiency over time.
Government business and profitability McIlwee said roughly one-third of Appian’s business now comes from government customers. Tanjga said changes in the federal government’s focus on efficiency have been positive for Appian, particularly as agencies look to work more directly with software vendors, reduce total cost of ownership and achieve faster time to value.
He also cited a framework agreement with the U.S. Army valued at $500 million over 10 years, saying it reflects both changes in how the government wants to buy software and the strength of Appian’s platform and AI features.
On profitability, Tanjga said Appian has improved adjusted EBITDA margin from negative 8% in 2023 to positive 11% in 2025. He said the company is guiding to more than 100 basis points of margin improvement at the midpoint of its latest outlook, with expected leverage in research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses.
For the current year, Tanjga said Appian is guiding to 13% revenue growth at the midpoint, 31% EBITDA growth, a 12% EBITDA margin and non-GAAP earnings per share of $1, representing 60% year-over-year growth. He also noted that Appian increased its share repurchase authorization to $100 million and expects to shrink its share count.
Asked about stock-based compensation, Tanjga said Appian’s stock-based compensation has been 6% of revenue for the past three years, below peer medians he cited for similarly sized and larger software companies.
About Appian NASDAQ: APPNAppian Corporation is a global technology company specializing in low-code automation platforms designed to streamline business processes. Founded in 1999 by Matt Calkins, the company provides an integrated suite of tools that enables organizations to build enterprise applications and workflows rapidly with minimal hand coding. The platform combines process management, robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and data integration into a single environment, allowing businesses to accelerate digital transformation initiatives.
The core offering, the Appian Low-Code Platform, empowers users—ranging from professional developers to business analysts—to visually model, design and deploy applications that can automate complex operations, orchestrate tasks across systems, and deliver real-time analytics.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
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Survey finds agencies prioritizing governance, oversight, and operational efficiency as AI adoption matures.
, /PRNewswire/ -- Appian (Nasdaq: APPN) today announced findings from a new survey of 2,000 US public sector workers, revealing that government agencies are increasingly moving AI beyond experimentation and into operational use. More than one-third (37%) of respondents describe their agency's AI integration as advanced, with AI embedded in multiple mission-critical processes, while another 32% say AI deployment is actively developing. Only 6% report that AI has not yet been integrated into agency processes. At the same time, adoption is not without challenges. Fourteen percent of respondents report their agency is re-evaluating AI investments due to budget, staffing, or other concerns, while 12% cite a lack of ROI as a reason for reassessment.
The findings suggest public sector organizations are increasingly focused on applying AI to improve government operations, support mission delivery, and strengthen decision-making while establishing the governance foundations needed to scale adoption responsibly.
AI adoption expands across operational government functions
Among agencies moving AI into production, adoption is occurring across a broad range of operational functions. Nearly half (47%) of respondents report AI is already in production for workforce planning and HR operations, followed by investigations, compliance, and case management (45%), procurement and contract management (44%), grants management (43%), cybersecurity and threat detection (42%), and citizen service delivery (41%).
These survey results demonstrate that agencies are applying AI across functions that support day-to-day government operations, from internal workforce management to citizen-facing services.
Governance and oversight emerge as priorities for scaling AI
As AI adoption grows, agencies are placing significant emphasis on the governance structures needed to support responsible use. Nearly half of respondents identify data privacy and security (46%), compliance with laws and standards (45%), and human oversight and accountability (44%) as top responsible AI priorities. Transparency and auditability also rank highly, with 42% citing them as key considerations.
The survey also found that agencies are actively aligning AI initiatives with government requirements. Forty percent of respondents report their agency is fully aligned and actively reporting AI use cases in accordance with current government directives, while 54% say alignment efforts are underway and governance frameworks remain in development.
Operational efficiency remains a key focus for future AI investments
Looking ahead, agencies are prioritizing AI initiatives that improve mission performance and operational outcomes. Respondents identified improving operational efficiency in mission delivery or citizen services (40%), automating complex workflows based on context, data, and prior outcomes (38%), improving decision-making with data-driven insights (37%), and ensuring compliance and reducing risk (35%) as their top AI strategy priorities.
"Recent Harvard Business Review Analytic Services research found that organizations generate greater value from AI when it is integrated into workflows and operational systems," said Jason Adolf, Vice President, Global Public Sector at Appian. "This new public sector research shows government agencies increasingly putting that principle into practice. Agencies are applying AI across critical government functions while simultaneously investing in the governance, oversight, and accountability needed to support transparent and safe adoption at scale. The greatest opportunities for AI will come from connecting it to the processes that drive mission outcomes."
Methodology
Appian commissioned Censuswide to conduct an independent survey of 2,000 public sector workers in the United States between April 10 and April 28, 2026.
About Appian
Appian provides AI automation for mission-critical work. We automate complex processes in large enterprises and governments. Our platform is known for its unique reliability and scale. We've been automating processes for more than 25 years and understand enterprise operations like no one else. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]
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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "will," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of Appian's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Appian is under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release to conform these statements to actual results or revised expectations, except as required by law.
