Activist investor Dan Loeb’s Third Point LLC fully shed its stake in software company Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY) in the third quarter of 2025.
The hedge fund liquidated its remaining 300,000 shares in the third quarter, marking its second full exit from Workday in 2025 after having previously sold out in Q1.
Third-Quarter FY26 Earnings Beat
In November, Workday reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.32 for the third quarter, beating the estimate of $2.18 and revenue of $2.43 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 billion.
Workday ended the period with a 12-month subscription revenue backlog of $8.21 billion, up 17.6% year-over-year, supported in part by the acquisition of Paradox.
Management highlighted momentum across its AI portfolio and ongoing innovation in its platform.
Analyst View
Several analysts have recently lowered their price forecasts for the company.
RBC Capital analyst Rishi Jaluria maintained an Outperform rating on Workday and lowered the price forecast from $340 to $320.
Although the company raised its full-year revenue guidance by more than the quarterly beat, its organic revenue would have fallen short of consensus, the analyst stated. Despite the quarterly beat, Workday reiterated its adjusted EBIT margin guidance, he added.
Also, KeyBanc analyst Jason Celino maintained an Overweight rating on Workday and lowered the price target from $285 to $260.
Revenues from both subscription and pro services were only modestly above consensus estimates, the analyst stated. Despite the outperformance, Workday’s fourth-quarter outlook was broadly in-line with expectations, he added.
Apart from this, a Needham analyst pointed out that ”The US federal government shutdown negatively impacted some deals”. Also, Citizens JMP Securities writes that ”The company guided to fiscal 2026 non-GAAP operating margin of around 28.5%, below consensus of 28.7%, “which may be depressed slightly by the acquisitions, in our view,”
Stock Comparison
In the last year, WDAY shares declined by around 21.37%, compared with 18.51% growth in the Eagle Capital Select Equity ETF (NYSE:EAGL) and a 7.67% decline in the Global X Cloud Computing ETF (NASDAQ:CLOU).
Also, the company's share underperformed its closest peers, Palantir Technologies, which grew 165.32% and SAP SE ADS, which fell 15.40%.
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