Summary
MongoDB ended fiscal 2021 with strong top-line growth. Fourth-quarter revenue was $171.0 million, up 38.4% from the prior-year quarter. Full-year revenue was $590.4 million, up 40.0% from the prior year. The Atlas cloud database continued to lead the mix. Atlas revenue reached 49% of total fourth-quarter revenue and rose 66% year over year. The company had more than 24,800 customers as of January 31, 2021, including more than 3,000 direct sales customers and 975 customers with at least $100,000 in annualized recurring revenue or annualized monthly recurring revenue. Management said the net ARR expansion rate has consistently been over 120%. Those metrics point to a land-and-expand model that still works at scale.
Profitability moved in the opposite direction. Fourth-quarter gross profit was $120.0 million, up 35.3% from the prior-year quarter, but gross margin was 70.2%, down 1.7 percentage points. Full-year gross margin was 70.0%, down 0.3 percentage points from the prior year. The operating loss widened to $59.4 million from $40.9 million, and operating margin was negative 34.7%, down 1.6 percentage points. The net loss widened to $75.8 million from $62.6 million in the prior-year quarter. For the full year, the net loss widened to $266.9 million from $175.5 million, and diluted earnings per share were -$4.53. Non-GAAP results were less severe. Non-GAAP loss from operations was $16.0 million in the quarter, and non-GAAP net loss was $19.9 million, or $0.33 per share. The gap between GAAP and non-GAAP results largely reflects stock-based compensation and other adjustments.
Cash flow remained negative. Operating cash flow was negative $18.6 million in the fourth quarter, down from negative $8.6 million in the prior-year quarter. For the full year, operating cash flow was negative $42.7 million, down from negative $29.5 million. Capital expenditures were $0.8 million in the quarter, down 31.5%, and $11.8 million for the full year, up 230.3%. Free cash flow, a non-GAAP measure, was negative $20.7 million in the quarter, compared with negative $10.9 million a year earlier, and negative $59.1 million for the full year, compared with negative $35.0 million. Deferred revenue was $238.0 million, up 24.7% from the prior-year quarter, and remaining performance obligations were $243.7 million, up 15.9%. Those balances support future revenue but also show that billings and collections can lag reported growth.
Guidance points to continued growth with ongoing losses. For the first quarter of fiscal 2022, MongoDB guided revenue of $167.0 million to $170.0 million and a non-GAAP loss from operations of $21.0 million to $19.0 million, with a non-GAAP net loss per share of negative $0.39 to negative $0.36. For the full fiscal year 2022, the company guided revenue of $745.0 million to $765.0 million, a non-GAAP loss from operations of $84.0 million to $74.0 million, and a non-GAAP net loss per share of negative $1.55 to negative $1.39. The company said it expects revenue to continue to be negatively impacted by the slowdown in activity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in the near term. It also recorded a higher allowance for doubtful accounts during fiscal 2021. Other risks include a history of losses, negative operating cash flow, competition, dependence on MongoDB Atlas, rising third-party cloud infrastructure costs, and the need to invest heavily in sales, marketing, and research and development. The company had $1.75 billion in total contractual obligations as of January 31, 2021, including $371.98 million in purchase obligations and a $160.0 million non-cancelable cloud infrastructure commitment over the next three years. MongoDB may need additional capital if those investments do not produce the expected growth.
Forecast
Reported figures
GAAP, from SEC filings| Metric | Q4 FY2021 | Q3 FY2021 | QoQ | Q4 FY2020 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $171.0M | $150.8M | +13.4% | $123.5M | +38.4% |
| Gross profit | $120.0M | $104.7M | +14.7% | $88.7M | +35.3% |
| Gross margin | 70.2% | 69.4% | +0.8 pp | 71.8% | -1.6 pp |
| Research & development | $55.9M | $54.4M | +2.8% | $41.6M | +34.3% |
| Sales & marketing | $97.7M | $83.2M | +17.4% | $67.2M | +45.3% |
| General & administrative | $25.8M | $25.2M | +2.5% | $20.8M | +24.3% |
| Total operating expenses | $179.4M | $162.8M | +10.2% | $129.6M | +38.4% |
| Operating income (loss) | -$59.4M | -$58.1M | -2.2% | -$40.9M | -45.2% |
| Operating margin | -34.7% | -38.5% | +3.8 pp | -33.1% | -1.6 pp |
| Net income (loss) | -$75.8M | -$72.7M | -4.3% | -$62.6M | -21.2% |
| Net margin | -44.3% | -48.2% | +3.9 pp | -50.6% | +6.3 pp |
Risks
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions have disrupted in-person sales and marketing. MD&A states the company expects revenue to continue to be negatively impacted by the slowdown in activity and global uncertainty in the near term, and it recorded a higher allowance for doubtful accounts during FY2021 due to potential customer financial difficulties.
The company has a history of losses and expects to continue incurring operating losses and negative cash flows. For FY2021, net loss was $266.9 million, a widened loss of 52.1% from $175.5 million in FY2020, and operating loss was $209.3 million, a widened loss of 41.5% from $147.9 million; accumulated deficit was $935.4 million as of January 31, 2021.
Operating cash flow was negative $42.7 million for FY2021, down $13.1 million or 44.5% from negative $29.5 million in FY2020, and free cash flow was negative $59.1 million compared with negative $35.0 million. MD&A states the company expects to continue to incur negative cash flows from operations in the future and may require additional capital.
The company has entered non-cancelable multi-year cloud infrastructure capacity commitments, including a $160.0 million commitment over the next three years commencing January 2021, requiring payment regardless of actual usage. MD&A also warns gross margin may decline as MongoDB Atlas revenue increases due to associated hosting costs; Q4 FY2021 gross margin was 70.2%, down 1.7 percentage points from 71.8%.
The database software market is highly competitive, and the company faces larger legacy providers such as IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle as well as public cloud providers including AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure. These competitors may bundle competing products, offer lower or no-cost products, and have greater financial and technical resources.
A majority of subscription contracts are one year in duration and customers have no obligation to renew. MD&A notes the net ARR expansion rate has consistently been over 120%, but any decline in renewal rates or failure to expand customer use would harm results.
The conditional conversion feature of the 2024 Notes and 2026 Notes was triggered as of January 31, 2021, making them currently convertible at holders' option from February 1, 2021 through April 30, 2021. If holders convert, the company may be required to make cash payments, which could adversely affect liquidity.
The company derives substantially all revenue from its database platform, and MongoDB Atlas represented 46% of total revenue in FY2021 compared with 39% in the prior year. If Atlas fails to achieve continued market adoption or the platform fails to satisfy customer demands, results could be materially harmed.
The sales cycle for the company's offerings is long and unpredictable, generally three to nine months but can extend to more than a year for some customers. A large portion of sales occur toward the end of each quarter, so delays or timing of renewals can push revenue into the next quarter.
The company plans to continue expanding its sales and marketing organization; sales and marketing headcount increased to 1,171 employees as of January 31, 2021 from 789 as of January 31, 2020. New hires require significant training and time to achieve full productivity, and remote work arrangements may delay productivity, so the expansion may not generate a corresponding revenue increase.
The company is subject to evolving privacy laws including the GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, LGPD, and APPI. The invalidation of the EU-US Privacy Shield and ongoing uncertainty around cross-border data transfer mechanisms may increase compliance costs and expose the company to fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of global turnover.
Community Server is offered under the Server Side Public License, which has not been approved by the Open Source Initiative and has not been interpreted by courts, potentially harming adoption. The company may also be unable to enforce the SSPL or AGPL, limiting its ability to monetize and protect intellectual property.
Security breaches or unauthorized access to customer data could harm the company, and industry publications have reported ransomware attacks on MongoDB instances due to users failing to enable recommended security settings. Remote work during COVID-19 has increased phishing and social engineering attempts.
The company has experienced rapid growth, increasing customers from over 3,200 as of January 31, 2017 to over 24,800 as of January 31, 2021 and employees from 713 to 2,539. This growth strains management, operational, and financial infrastructure, and failure to manage it could impair product quality and customer expansion.
The company faces significant competition for experienced sales professionals and must recruit, train, and retain them to grow revenue. Remote work arrangements may result in decreased employee productivity and morale and increased regretted employee attrition.
SaaS KPIs
All quarters →Total Customers
MongoDB Atlas Customers
Direct Sales Customers
Free Cash Flow
Net ARR Expansion Rate
Customers over $100K ARR
Non-GAAP Gross Margin
Non-GAAP Loss from Operations
Summary, forecast, risks and KPIs are extracted from MongoDB, Inc.'s SEC filings for Q4 FY2021 (10-Q / 10-K and the 8-K earnings release); GAAP figures in the summary are checked against the reported XBRL data. They can contain errors; the filings are authoritative. Processed Oct 2, 2026.