Unfortunately for Australian investors Sydney-based Atlassian is not listed on the S&P/ ASX200 (ASX: XJO) as it trades under the ticker TEAM on the tech-heavy NASDAQ index in the US.
It's also Australia's most successful modern day tech or software company as it has created US$26.6 billion (A$37 billion) in shareholder value since its founding in 2002, which means it's now valued around the same as dividend favourite Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS).
Of course Atlassian has never paid a dividend instead preferring to reinvest its operating cash flows back into the business to generate more growth.
While Telstra until recently paid out nearly all its earnings in dividends and its lack of reinvestment or planning for the future has seen the shares only ever go backwards in terms of capital growth since its IPO.
This morning Atlassian reported that it delivered an operating loss of $27.6 million on revenue of $309.3 million for the quarter ending March 31 2019.
On an adjusted basis, backing out certain costs such as share-based payments, operating income came in at positive $58 million on a margin of 19%.
Atlassian has a software-as-a-service business model that generates strong recurring revenues on high gross profit margins, which leaves plenty of cashflow left over for reinvestment.
However, it goes to show how traditional valuation metrics for companies have gone out the window since the GFC and the world of super-low interest rates in particular when loss-making Atlassian is valued the same as Telstra that recently posted a half-year net profit of $1.2 billion.
For the whole of fiscal 2019 Atlassian is guiding for revenue between US$1,205 million to US$1,207 million which has reportedly disappointed the market to leave the shares down around 9% 'after hours'.
