Artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage these days, and no company has benefited from the new big thing on Wall Street more than Nvidia. The chipmaker’s shares are up by nearly 200% this year. However, there are other, less high-profile companies investors can consider that will also profit from the increased demand for AI-related services. One of them is Fiverr (NYSE: FVRR), a corporation involved in the increasingly booming gig economy.
Following encouraging third-quarter results, Fiverr’s shares recently soared by as much as 30% in one day. A single strong quarter might not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but let’s find out why it’s worth holding the company’s shares through the next decade.
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Fiverr’s platform is a freelancing hub. Companies (or sometimes individuals) come to it to find people who can complete projects across a wide range of specialties. One of the advantages of relying on freelancers is that it is cheaper and easier to get them on board, be it for a single project or recurring work. Fiverr simplifies the task further: Freelancers on its platform have portfolios, ratings, and reviews.
Since AI rose in prominence, businesses have realized how valuable various applications of the technology can be to their operations. However, many don’t have the resources to hire full-time employees specializing in AI. That’s where Fiverr comes in. It helps smaller companies match with AI-related experts on its platform. That’s not all. Fiverr has also launched several AI-based tools to help its customers, including Dynamic Matching, which helps businesses with complex job requirements match with the right candidates.
Fiverr has several other AI tools in the works that the company says will help boost productivity and efficiency on its platform.
AI provides plenty of growth opportunities to Fiverr, but the company has also sought to cut costs and become more efficient in the past couple of years. Fiverr’s efforts have paid off. The business is profitable, and has been for a few periods. The third quarter was no different. Fiverr’s revenue increased by almost 8% year over year to $99.6 million. Note that Fiverr’s top line moved in the right direction, despite its number of active buyers decreasing by 9% compared to the year-ago period.
However, Fiverr’s remaining buyers spent, on average, 9% more per order, a metric it calls “spend per buyer.” Fiverr’s GAAP net earnings per share declined to $0.04 from the $0.07 EPS reported in the year-ago period. The company’s adjusted EPS was up by 16% year over year to $0.64. The era of growth at all costs is over. Investors are increasingly seeking companies that can show financial discipline along with strong growth prospects. Fiverr is making progress in that regard.
