Dynatrace, Inc. (DT) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
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Overview
The earnings call highlights strong financial performance with a 16% revenue growth, exceeding guidance on operating margin and EPS. The Q&A reflects confidence in ARR acceleration and robust deal pipelines. Despite some vague responses, the strategic focus on AI and security, along with high retention rates, suggests positive sentiment. The absence of specific fiscal '27 guidance is a minor concern, but overall, the positive financial metrics and strategic initiatives outweigh it, indicating a likely positive stock price movement.
Key Financial Performance
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) $1.97 billion, representing 16% growth year-over-year. The growth has stabilized for 3 straight quarters. Reasons for growth include record new logo ARR, steady expansion ARR, and significant 7-figure end-to-end observability deals.
Net New ARR $75 million, up 11% year-over-year. This growth was driven by record new logo ARR and robust expansion ARR.
Log Management Solution Consumption Surpassed $100 million in annualized consumption, with growth over 100% year-over-year. This was driven by the increasing adoption of the platform and the maturity of the selling motion.
Subscription Revenue $493 million, up 16% year-over-year. This was driven by strong net new ARR.
Total Revenue $515 million, up 16% year-over-year. This was driven by strong net new ARR.
Non-GAAP Operating Margin 30%, exceeding the top end of guidance by nearly 100 basis points. This was driven mostly by revenue upside flowing through to the bottom line.
Non-GAAP Net Income $135 million or $0.44 per diluted share, $0.02 above the high end of guidance. This was driven by strong financial performance.
Free Cash Flow (Trailing 12-Month Basis) $463 million or 24% of revenue. This includes a 600 basis point impact related to cash taxes. Pretax free cash flow was 30% of revenue.
Gross Retention Rate Mid-90s, demonstrating the strategic relevance of the Dynatrace platform as mission-critical to customers' operations.
Net Retention Rate (NRR) 111% on a trailing 12-month basis, consistent with the prior 2 quarters. This reflects broader usage and deeper penetration of capabilities across the platform.
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Operating Highlights
Dynatrace Intelligence: Announced as the industry's first agentic operations system built for modern software ecosystems. It combines deterministic AI with agentic AI to deliver reliable autonomous outcomes. Available to all customers and expected to drive increased platform usage and monetization through usage-based agentic execution.
Grail: A massively parallel processing data lakehouse purpose-built for real-time processing of observability and security data. It has surpassed $100 million in annualized log consumption, growing over 100% year-over-year.
DevCycle Acquisition: Acquired to extend lab-to-developer capabilities, enabling progressive delivery for AI-native applications and accelerating feature releases.
Customer Expansion: Added 164 new logos in Q3 with an average ARR per new logo exceeding $200,000. Average ARR per customer is now nearly $500,000, with potential to reach $1 million or more in the medium to long term.
Strategic Collaborations: Deepened technical engagements with major hyperscalers like AWS, Azure, and GCP. Collaborated with ServiceNow to advance autonomous IT operations and intelligent automation.
ARR Growth: Achieved 16% ARR growth, stabilizing for three consecutive quarters. Net new ARR was $75 million, up 11% year-over-year.
Log Management: Surpassed $100 million in annualized consumption for log management, the fastest-growing product category.
Share Repurchase Program: Board authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program, double the size of the previous program.
AI-Powered Observability: Positioned as essential in an AI-first world, leveraging AI to deliver proactive, predictive, and autonomous operations.
Platform Differentiation: Highlighted unique capabilities like Grail, Smartscape, and Dynatrace Intelligence, making the platform highly differentiated and difficult to replicate.
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Risk or Challenges
Market Conditions: The rapid growth of AI and cloud-native workloads is creating unprecedented scale and complexity, which poses challenges for customers in managing workloads and data effectively. This complexity can lead to operational inefficiencies and increased risks.
Competitive Pressures: The market for observability platforms is highly competitive, with customers seeking to consolidate tools and adopt platforms that provide greater value. Dynatrace faces pressure to differentiate its offerings and maintain its leadership position.
Regulatory Hurdles: No explicit mention of regulatory hurdles was made in the transcript.
Supply Chain Disruptions: No explicit mention of supply chain disruptions was made in the transcript.
Economic Uncertainties: The transcript does not explicitly mention economic uncertainties impacting the company.
Strategic Execution Risks: The company’s strategy to expand its platform capabilities, such as through the acquisition of DevCycle and the introduction of Dynatrace Intelligence, requires successful integration and execution to deliver expected value. Failure in these areas could impact growth and customer satisfaction.
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Guidance & Outlook
ARR Growth: ARR growth guidance has been raised by 125 basis points to a range of 15.5% to 16%, with expectations to surpass $2 billion in ARR by the end of fiscal 2026.
Revenue Growth: Total revenue and subscription revenue growth guidance have been raised by 75 basis points at the midpoint to 16% growth.
Net New ARR: The high end of the ARR range implies another quarter of double-digit net new ARR growth.
Non-GAAP Operating Margin: Full-year non-GAAP operating margin guidance has been raised to 29%.
Free Cash Flow Margin: Free cash flow margin guidance has been raised to 26%.
Non-GAAP EPS: Non-GAAP EPS guidance has been raised to a range of $1.67 to $1.69 per diluted share, representing an increase of $0.05 at the midpoint of the range.
Log Management Growth: Logs remain the fastest-growing product category, surpassing $100 million in annualized consumption, and are expected to be a significant source of ARR growth.
Market Trends: The demand environment for observability remains robust, driven by secular tailwinds of end-to-end observability, cloud modernization, and AI workload proliferation.
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Shareholder Return Plan
Share Repurchase Program: Dynatrace announced the completion of its $500 million share repurchase program initiated in May 2024. In Q3, the company repurchased 3.5 million shares for $160 million at an average price of just over $45 per share. Additionally, the Board has authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program, which is double the size of the previous program. This decision reflects the company's confidence in its business, long-term growth opportunities, and the belief that its shares are undervalued. Dynatrace intends to be active in the market at current levels.
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Key Q&A
Q:What does the client base's understanding of automation and data integration mean for engagement levels and deal sizes?
A:End-to-end observability is driving strong sales momentum as customers recognize the need to address tool sprawl, expense management, and poor outcomes. This is seen as a mandatory foundation for AI-driven outcomes.
Q:What is the pace of change towards agents handling incidents instead of human engineers, and how does this impact observability?
A:The pace of change is gradual due to organizational apprehension about AI. Observability is evolving to become the control plane for enterprise AI, requiring end-to-end observability and deterministic AI as foundational steps before agentic AI can take over.
Q:How quickly has log monitoring consumption grown, and what are the next milestones for the product?
A:Log monitoring consumption surpassed $100 million, growing over 100% year-over-year. The next milestone has not been publicly set, but it is expected to be a significant source of ARR growth, with logs embedded in nearly all end-to-end observability deals.
Q:What factors could contribute to ARR acceleration in fiscal '27?
A:Momentum in large-scale end-to-end observability deals, traction with partners, and continued execution are expected to drive ARR acceleration. However, specific guidance will be provided in May.
Q:How does the annualized platform consumption dollar growth rate compare to the previous quarter?
A:Consumption continues to grow north of 20%, consistently higher than ARR growth.
Q:What updates are there on large deal pipelines and their progression?
A:The pipeline remains robust, heavily weighted towards large deals over $0.5 million and $1 million. Consistency in close rates has been built, and new logos are contributing significantly, with 5 new logos exceeding $1 million.
Q:What is driving confidence in the fiscal 4Q net new ARR guidance?
A:Strong pipeline visibility and improved go-to-market maturity are driving confidence. The guidance implies another quarter of double-digit net new ARR growth.
Q:How is new logo growth performing, and what is the outlook for its contribution to ARR?
A:New logo growth is strong, with 164 new logos added. The mix is expected to remain roughly 1/3 new logos and 2/3 expansions. There is significant potential for expansion within the existing customer base.
Q:What is the competitive environment like, and how does Dynatrace view the risk from large language model providers?
A:Smaller competitors like Chronosphere are not seen as significant threats due to their focus on point solutions. Dynatrace views its architectural focus and domain expertise as durable advantages. Large language models are unlikely to replicate Dynatrace's capabilities due to the complexity of enterprise environments.
Q:What is the progress of the security strike teams?
A:Security is growing steadily, with a focus on the observability buyer rather than the CISO. The convergence of security and observability continues to be a strategic focus.
Q:How does Dynatrace plan to monetize agentic AI?
A:Dynatrace plans to monetize agentic AI through increased platform usage and direct monetization of agentic workloads. The Dynatrace Intelligence platform supports this by providing deterministic AI and enabling agentic workflows.
Q:What is the outlook for sales hiring and productivity?
A:Sales hiring will continue, with a focus on improving productivity through partner channels like GSIs and hyperscalers. More details will be provided in the Q4 call.
Q:Review of Unclear Management Responses
A:Management avoided providing specific guidance for fiscal '27 ARR acceleration and the next milestones for log monitoring consumption. They also used vague language when discussing the potential impact of large language models on observability and the timeline for security growth milestones.
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Earnings Word Cloud
The most frequently occurring keywords in this quarter's earning call
AI action
AI application
AI control
AI converge
AI enterprise
AI environment
AI expansion
AI firefighting
AI market
AI moment
AI opportunity
Azure
DevCycle
GCP
Gemini
Intelligence
ServiceNow
advancement
architecture
auto
complexity
control plane
delivery
differentiation platform
era
feature
incident
issue customer
minute
organization value
outcome
platform AI
production environment
purpose
relationship
reliability
software AI
software ecosystem
stack
topology
transaction
usage AI
use
world
DT Transcript
Dynatrace, Inc. (DT) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Positive2-9
The earnings call highlights strong financial performance with a 16% revenue growth, exceeding guidance on operating margin and EPS. The Q&A reflects confidence in ARR acceleration and robust deal pipelines. Despite some vague responses, the strategic focus on AI and security, along with high retention rates, suggests positive sentiment. The absence of specific fiscal '27 guidance is a minor concern, but overall, the positive financial metrics and strategic initiatives outweigh it, indicating a likely positive stock price movement.
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DT Slides
Dynatrace Q3 2026 slides: ARR growth accelerates to 16%, guidance raised2026-02-09
Dynatrace Q2 2026 slides: ARR reaches $1.9B as company raises full-year guidance2025-11-05
Dynatrace Q1 2026 slides: ARR grows 16%, company raises full-year guidance2025-08-06
Dynatrace Q4 2025 slides: Strong profitability amid moderating growth2025-05-14
DT Report
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