Nice Shares Surge 11% After Beating Q4 Earnings Estimates
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: 8 hours ago
0mins
Should l Buy NICE?
Source: Fool
- Earnings Beat: Nice's Q4 sales and adjusted EPS grew by 9% and 7%, respectively, surpassing Wall Street expectations and driving an 11% stock surge, reflecting strong performance in the competitive enterprise software market.
- Significant AI Growth: CEO Scott Russell announced a 66% year-over-year increase in AI ARR to $328 million, with AI included in 100% of new seven-figure CXone deals for 2025, highlighting robust enterprise demand for its AI-native platform.
- Successful Strategic Acquisition: Nice acquired conversational and generative AI leader Cognigy for approximately $1 billion, enhancing its AI capabilities, with Cognigy recently ranked as the only Customer's Choice in Gartner's conversational AI platform ranking, demonstrating the acquisition's success.
- Strong Financial Position: With around $1.1 billion in net cash and generating $700 million in free cash flow last year, Nice has a $1 billion share repurchase authorization, indicating an aggressive buyback strategy to enhance shareholder value at current valuations.
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Analyst Views on NICE
Wall Street analysts forecast NICE stock price to rise
15 Analyst Rating
10 Buy
5 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 98.500
Low
120.00
Averages
158.57
High
200.00
Current: 98.500
Low
120.00
Averages
158.57
High
200.00
About NICE
NICE Ltd., formerly NICE-Systems Ltd., is a global enterprise software provider. The Company's segments include Customer Interactions Solutions, and Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions. The Customer Interactions Solutions segment provides data driven insights that enable businesses to deliver personalized experience to customers. The Financial Crime and Compliance Solutions segment provides real time and cross-channel fraud prevention, anti-money laundering, brokerage compliance and enterprise-wide case management. The Company serves contact centers, back office operations and retail branches, covering various industries, including communications, banking, insurance, healthcare, business processes outsourcing (BPO), government, utilities, travel and entertainment. Its Multi-Channel Recording and Interaction Management enables organizations to capture structured and unstructured customer interaction and transaction data from multiple channels.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
- Earnings Announcement: NICE is set to release its Q4 2023 earnings on February 19 before market open, with consensus EPS estimates at $3.21 and revenue at $779.94 million, reflecting an 8.1% year-over-year growth, indicating the company's stability in ongoing growth.
- Strong Historical Performance: Over the past two years, NICE has consistently beaten both EPS and revenue estimates 100% of the time, which not only boosts investor confidence but also sets a solid benchmark for future performance expectations.
- Expectation Adjustments: In the last three months, EPS estimates have seen two upward revisions and six downward revisions, while revenue estimates have experienced two upward and two downward revisions, indicating mixed market sentiment regarding NICE's future performance, which could influence investor decisions.
- Competitive Landscape Analysis: Despite facing challenges in AI-driven revenue growth, NICE's performance at the Nasdaq Investor Conference and comparisons with companies like Intel and Qualcomm highlight its potential in high-quality business, warranting investor attention.
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- Earnings Beat: Nice's Q4 sales and adjusted EPS grew by 9% and 7%, respectively, surpassing Wall Street expectations and driving an 11% stock surge, reflecting strong performance in the competitive enterprise software market.
- Significant AI Growth: CEO Scott Russell announced a 66% year-over-year increase in AI ARR to $328 million, with AI included in 100% of new seven-figure CXone deals for 2025, highlighting robust enterprise demand for its AI-native platform.
- Successful Strategic Acquisition: Nice acquired conversational and generative AI leader Cognigy for approximately $1 billion, enhancing its AI capabilities, with Cognigy recently ranked as the only Customer's Choice in Gartner's conversational AI platform ranking, demonstrating the acquisition's success.
- Strong Financial Position: With around $1.1 billion in net cash and generating $700 million in free cash flow last year, Nice has a $1 billion share repurchase authorization, indicating an aggressive buyback strategy to enhance shareholder value at current valuations.
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- Earnings Beat: Deere & Co reported Q1 earnings of $2.42 per share, exceeding analyst expectations of $2.06, indicating robust performance and boosting investor confidence in the company's prospects.
- Sales Surge: The company achieved quarterly sales of $9.611 billion, significantly surpassing the analyst consensus of $7.686 billion, reflecting strong product demand that could drive sustained growth moving forward.
- Stock Price Surge: Following the earnings report, Deere's stock price jumped 9.1% to $647.09 on Thursday, illustrating market optimism regarding the company's future performance.
- Positive Market Reaction: Despite a broader market decline, Deere's strong financial results allowed it to stand out among stocks, demonstrating resilience and attractiveness in an uncertain market environment.
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- Share Repurchase Program: NiCE announced a new $600 million share repurchase program after exceeding quarterly earnings estimates, reflecting the company's confidence in long-term growth opportunities and expected to enhance shareholder value further.
- Financial Report Dependency: The execution of this repurchase program is contingent upon the issuance of the company's audited annual financial report for 2025, indicating a strong emphasis on financial transparency and compliance.
- Remaining Repurchase Capacity: Following this authorization, NiCE currently has approximately $1 billion of total remaining share repurchase capacity, including previously authorized programs that were not fully utilized, showcasing the company's robust cash flow generation capabilities.
- Stock Price Reaction: NiCE shares rose approximately 7% to $105.00 in early trading, reflecting the market's positive outlook on the company's financial health and future growth potential.
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- Earnings Beat: NICE's Q4 non-GAAP EPS of $3.24 exceeded expectations by $0.03, with revenue of $786.5 million reflecting a 9.0% year-over-year growth, indicating strong market performance.
- Profitability Improvement: The diluted EPS rose to $2.41, a 57% increase, showcasing significant enhancements in cost control and operational efficiency, which bolsters investor confidence.
- Q1 2026 Guidance: The company expects non-GAAP total revenues for Q1 2026 to range between $755 million and $765 million, representing an 8.5% year-over-year growth at the midpoint, slightly below the consensus of $760.48 million, highlighting competitive pressures.
- Full-Year Outlook: For the full year 2026, non-GAAP total revenues are projected to be between $3.17 billion and $3.19 billion, with an 8.0% year-over-year growth at the midpoint, although slightly below the consensus of $3.18 billion, indicating robust growth potential.
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- Significant Revenue Growth: NiCE reported total revenue of $786.5 million in Q4, reflecting a 9% year-on-year increase and surpassing analysts' expectations of $779.94 million, showcasing the company's strong performance in cloud demand and AI-driven sales, thereby solidifying its market position.
- Stable Earnings Per Share: The adjusted earnings per share (EPS) stood at $3.24, aligning with market expectations, indicating that the company maintains stable profitability, which enhances investor confidence.
- Share Buyback Program: The company announced a $600 million share buyback program aimed at enhancing shareholder value and reflecting management's confidence in future growth, which is expected to positively impact the stock price.
- Positive Future Outlook: NiCE also unveiled fresh guidance for 2026, indicating an optimistic view on growth potential over the coming years, further attracting investor interest in its long-term strategic development.
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