Here's Why You Should Retain VEEVA Systems (VEEV) Stock Now

Veeva Systems, Inc. VEEV is well poised for growth on strong product portfolio expansion and prudent industry collaborations. However, escalating operating expenses are a concern.

Shares of Veeva Systems have gained 70.1% compared with the industry’s growth of 60.4% in the past three months.

The company, with a market capitalization of $31.87 billion, serves as aleading provider of cloud-based software applications and data solutions for the life sciences industry. Its earnings are expected to improve of 17.1% over the next five years. Moreover, it beat estimates in the trailing four quarters by 10.3%, on average.

Let’s take a closer look at the factors that substantiate the company’s Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Focus on Cloud-Based Software: Veeva Systems released its advanced Veeva Commercial Cloud offering, Veeva CRM Engage Webinar, at the Veeva Commercial Summit Europe. Veeva CRM continued to gain market share as the company added 10 new SMB logos in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 and saw further expansion of enterprise customer base. OpenData also had a record number of wins in the quarter. Adoption of Approved Email and Engage Meeting was impressive. The company is set to bring Veeva CRM field activity data into marketing analytics solutions to give brand marketers insights into how sales and marketing activities are conducted. The acquisition of Crossix continues to boost the Commercial Cloud portfolio.

In May 2020, the company announced MyVeeva for clinical trials. It is a software designed to enable clinical research sites to interact remotely with their patients when they need to so that they can have a mix of in-office and virtual visits.

In March 2020, the company commercially launched Veeva Data Cloud, a world-class technology platform, designed for the development and delivery of large-scale patient data and analytics. Veeva Data Cloud’s longitudinal patient and prescriber data solution for the U.S. market is expected to be available by December 2020.

Product Portfolio Strong: Veeva Systems’ unique solutions include Veeva Vault, Veeva CRM, Veeva Network and Veeva OpenData. Customer adoption for Vault application continued through the first quarter of fiscal 2021. Vault QualitySuite had a strong quarter as yet another Top 20 pharma selected QualityDocs as its enterprise standard. The newly-added and existing Top 20 pharma customer bases for CDMS, eTMF, and Study Startup are expected to round out the full Vault clinical portfolio by adopting CTMS.The company recently announced that five of the seven top CROs joined the Vault CDMS Partner Program. In the fiscal first quarter, the company executed its first-ever entirely remote product releases in both CRM and Vault.

Industry Collaborations: Veeva Systems has been taking consistent efforts to support industry collaborations in life sciences. This is done to launch products and market them easily. The company has been investing in resources to participate on a variety of development committees and industry associations groups. In April 2020, it announced industry collaborations to expedite the shift to digital engagement. Together with Accenture, Deloitte and other industry partners, Veeva Systems is helping life sciences companies develop and deploy new digital engagement strategies. The Digital Field Engagement offering will help the industry utilize digital channels such as remote meetings, virtual events, and email as the primary way for field reps to connect with healthcare professionals.In May 2020, the company announced that Alvotech, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in biosimilars, adopted Veeva Vault Training for more effective role-based training across its organization.

What’s Deterring the Stock?

Escalating Costs and Dented Margins: High expenses on the operational side raise concern. Expenses increased 43.1% in the fiscal first quarter. Gross margin was 71.9%, which contracted 138 basis points (bps). Adusted operating margin fell 310 bps to 25.9% in the quarter.

Which Way are Estimates Headed?

For the fiscal 2021, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $1.39 billion, indicating a rise of 25.8% from the year-ago period.  The same for fiscal 2021 earnings stands at $2.54, suggesting a growth of 15.9% from the year-ago reported figure.

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Aphria APHA, DaVita DVA and Biogen BIIB.

Aphria’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 24.6%. The company presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

DaVita’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 9.1%. The company presently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Biogen’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 14%. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

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