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Should You Buy, Sell, or Hold NICE Stock Before Q2 Earnings?

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NICE (NICE - Free Report) is set to release second-quarter 2024 results on Aug 15.

For the second quarter, NICE projects non-GAAP revenues to be between $657 million and $667 million, indicating 14% growth at the midpoint. Non-GAAP earnings are estimated in the $2.53-$2.63 per share band, suggesting 21% year-over-year growth at the midpoint.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $662.88 million, indicating an increase of 14.07% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

The consensus mark for earnings has been stable in the past 30 days at $2.58 per share. The figure suggests an increase of 21.13% from the prior-year quarter’s levels.

NICE’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 4.68%.

Nice Price and EPS Surprise

Nice Price and EPS Surprise

Nice price-eps-surprise | Nice Quote

Let’s see how things have shaped up for NICE prior to this announcement.

Factors to Note

NICE’s second-quarter 2024 performance is likely to have benefited from the strong adoption of its cloud solutions, with a focus on the expansion of CXone into a comprehensive digital engagement and the CX AI platform.

In the first quarter of 2024, NICE reported cloud revenues of $468.4 million, up 27% year over year. It witnessed a remarkable 200% year-over-year increase in AI deals, highlighting the increasing demand for AI-driven CX solutions.

NICE’s efforts to enhance its customer base on the back of its robust cloud solutions have been a key catalyst. It has more than 25K customers with more than 85% of Fortune 100 customers.

Within NICE’s financial crime and compliance segment, Actimize played a pivotal role, contributing to $108 million in revenues in the first quarter of 2024. The segment registered impressive 8% year-over-year growth, driven by strong cloud revenues and the continued success of on-premise products.

NICE Actimize further solidified its position by being recognized as a Leader in the “IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise Fraud Solutions 2024 Vendor Assessment.” The recognition underscores NICE Actimize’s commitment to enterprise fraud management, highlighting its IFM Enterprise Fraud Management platform.

NICE Actimize is advancing with its upcoming IFM version 11, integrating AI throughout the fraud management lifecycle to enhance accuracy, agility and operational efficiency through intelligent orchestration and network analytics powered by Generative AI.

These factors are expected to have driven NICE’s top-line growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter 2024 cloud revenues is pegged at $485 million, indicating year-over-year growth of 27%.

NICE Shares Underperform Sector, S&P 500

NICE shares have declined 22.3%, underperforming the Zacks Computer & Technology sector’s return of 9.7% and the S&P 500’s 12.3%.

Year-to-Date Performance Chart

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Moreover, NICE stock is not so cheap, as the Value Style Score of C suggests a stretched valuation at this moment.

Robust Portfolio Boosts NICE’s Prospects

NICE boasts an innovative portfolio with growing adoption of solutions like Actimize, Evidencentral, Inform Elite and CXone. The company’s focus on its cloud offerings, particularly its CXone platform, has been a major growth driver.

NICE’s policy of frequently updating its portfolio has been a key catalyst as it helps in fending off competitors from other industry players like Five9 (FIVN - Free Report) , Salesforce and 8X8 (EGHT - Free Report) .

These competitors have also been extending their offerings in the CX market. Five9 recently announced an enhanced collaboration with Salesforce, integrating AI-powered solutions to improve customer experiences in contact centers. In February, 8x8 launched 8x8 Engage, an AI-powered solution that facilitates cross-organization customer engagement.

NICE launched CXone Mpower, integrating Copilot, Autopilot and Actions into a CX-aware AI platform in June. 

NICE Actimize is advancing with its upcoming IFM (Integrated Fraud Management) version 11, integrating AI throughout the fraud management lifecycle to enhance accuracy, agility, and operational efficiency through intelligent orchestration and network analytics powered by GenAI.

It has launched the next generation of Enlighten Copilot designed specifically for supervisors and CX decision-makers powered by purpose-built AI.

A deepening partnership with Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) is noteworthy. NTR-X Compliance Recording and Assurance Solution has secured transactable solution status in Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace.

Conclusion

NICE is benefiting from strong momentum across its cloud business, driven by the rising adoption of the CXone platform. Its growth prospect, as indicated by the Growth Style Score of A, is hard to ignore.

However, a challenging macroeconomic environment has been a concern. The shares are trading below the 50-day moving average, indicating a bearish trend.

NICE Stock Trades Below 50-Day SMA

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

NICE currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), suggesting that it may be wise for investors to stay away for the time being.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

 

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