Slack’s shares rose 5% after the company announced it has over 12 million active users.
In June, Slack Technologies went public, and there was a lot of excitement from Wall Street. And while the stock did hit a downturn in September, for the most part, analysts have stayed optimistic when it comes to Slack.
The company is considered a moderate buy, and there’s not one analyst who recommends selling the stock. The average price target for Slack is $36.29, giving it a potential upside of more than 44%.
And this week, Slack gave Wall Street another reason to be hopeful about its growth prospects. The company shared a blog post stating that it now has over 12 million active users, which is a 37% increase from last year.
A breakdown of Slack’s user growth
When Slack submitted its S-1 filing for its stock exchange listing earlier this year, the company claimed 10 million active users. This week, the company also stated it currently has 600,000 developers. This is also up from the 500,000 it claimed in its SEC filing.
But most importantly, Slack’s users continue to spend more and more time on the app. The company now has over six million paid seats. In the blog post, the company stated that its paying customers log in for an average of nine hours per day and are active for about 90 minutes.
These customers are logging a combined average of more than five million weekly actions. These actions include things like messaging, commenting, sharing files, and searching for items.
The increased activity may be partially due to Slack’s expanded App Directory. The company increased its App Directory to 1,800 apps, which is up from 1,500 apps earlier this year.
What does this mean for Slack?
This announcement came at just the right time for Slack since the company’s shares have been falling since it went public in June. And investors were disappointed by when the company reported weaker-than-expected guidance at its last earnings report.
Slack’s revenue depends on an active and growing user base, so this user growth is an exciting trend for the company. And most importantly, it can help Slack counter the image that it’s falling short to companies like Microsoft.
Slack’s 12 million active users put the company within striking distance of Microsoft’s Teams app. The company’s Teams app boasts 13 million active users, and it is Slack’s biggest competitor.
