By Shivansh Tiwary and Aatreyee Dasgupta
Sept 9 (Reuters) - Corporate travel and expense platform Navan beat second-quarter profit expectations and raised its full-year revenue forecast on Wednesday, but shares fell 17% in extended trading after higher operating costs overshadowed robust revenue growth.
Operating expenses increased 46% to $200.2 million in the reported quarter, outpacing 35% revenue growth, while its operating loss widened to $25.6 million from $12.3 million a year earlier.
On a post-earnings
call analysts questioned why stronger-than-expected revenue growth did not translate into a proportionately larger profit increase, with executives pointing to higher sales commissions and the ongoing investment in AI products.
Business travel, however, has remained resilient despite geopolitical uncertainty, with corporate investment in artificial intelligence prompting sales teams, engineers and executives to travel more frequently.
"Demand for corporate travel has been very, very strong," CFO Aurélien Nolf told Reuters in an interview.
"On average, every traveler is (taking) more trips year over year. And each of those trips is on average generating higher bookings than they were a year ago."
Navan raised its fiscal year revenue forecast range to $927 million to $933 million from $907 million to $913 million earlier, and increased its adjusted operating income outlook to $82 million to 86 million from $76 million to $80 million.
The company forecast third-quarter revenue of $253 million to $255 million, above analysts' expectations of $248.27 million, according to LSEG data.
Adjusted profit was 5 cents per share for the second quarter, compared with analysts' expectations of 4 cents per share.
Revenue rose 35% to $232.8 million, beating analysts' estimates of $220.46 million.
Gross booking volume, a key measure of travel spend processed on its platform, increased 45% to $3 billion during the quarter, while payment volume rose 34% to $1.3 billion.
Navan, which went public last year, also said it would acquire AI-powered event management platform BoomPop for an undisclosed amount. A person familiar with the matter said the cash-and-stock deal was valued at up to $95 million.
During its earnings call, Nolf said the acquisition would have a "very low single-digit" revenue impact in fiscal 2027 and an immaterial effect on results this year.
(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary and Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
