Aspen Technology Inc. (AZPN) stock falls in the after-hour trading. Here’s what’s happening?

Aspen Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: AZPN) stock gained by 0.23% at last close whereas the AZPN stock declines by 14.97% in the after-hours trading after AspenTech has announced its financial results for third-quarter fiscal 2021. Aspen Technology is a pioneer in asset management applications around the world. Its products are designed for complex industrial environments where asset design, service, and maintenance must all be optimized.

Financial Highlights.

On April 28, 2021, AZPN announced financial results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2021 ended March 31, 2021. Given below is the overview:

• At the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2021, annual spend, defined as the annualized value of all term license and maintenance contracts at the end of the quarter was $609.9 million, up 6.0 percent from the third quarter of fiscal 2020 and 1.0 percent consecutively.
• AspenTech announced $68.9 million in income from operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, relative to $44.7 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.
• On March 31, 2021, AspenTech had $317.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and $297.0 million in gross borrowings, net of debt issuance costs.
• AspenTech provided $98.7 million in cash flow from operations and $100.0 million in free cash flow in the third quarter.

Antonio Pietri, President, and Chief Executive Officer commented:

AspenTech’s third-quarter results were highlighted by solid free cash flow generation and demand behavior that was at or above pre-pandemic levels in each of its core end-markets. Simultaneously, the continued volatility in the global macro environment as a result of COVID, combined with severe and expensive fluctuations in the energy and chemicals markets as a result of the US winter storm during the quarter, made closing transactions more difficult than anticipated.

Outlook of fiscal year 2021

Given the financial results for the third quarter fiscal 2021, AspenTech provided its shareholders with expected progress by the end of the Fiscal year 2021. Firstly the annual spend growth is expected to be 4-5.5% year-over-year. The free cash flow, as per AZPN’s expectations would be $265 to $275 million. Total bookings and Net revenue for AZPN would be $771 to $809 million and $705 to $729 million, respectively.