Workday Inc. (NASDAQ:WDAY)

The analysis of the provided financial ratios over the observed periods reveals distinct trends and fluctuations across each valuation metric.

Price to Earnings (P/E) Ratio

The P/E ratio data is mostly absent for the initial periods, with values only becoming available starting in early 2022. At that time, extremely elevated values are noted, peaking around 2418.34 and 1957.29, indicating a potentially inflated market valuation or very low earnings during those quarters. Subsequently, the P/E ratio demonstrates a sharp decline, stabilizing to more moderate levels between approximately 37.68 and 130.49 in 2024 and early 2025, which suggests an improvement in earnings or market reassessment of the company's valuation.

Price to Operating Profit (P/OP) Ratio

This ratio appears only in the latter periods, with the earliest noted figure exceeding 4000, hinting at either minimal operating profits or heightened stock prices. Over time, the P/OP ratio decreases significantly to values around 155.71 to 406.25 by early 2025, indicating enhanced operating profit or market correction. The declining trend reflects improving operational profitability relative to market pricing.

Price to Sales (P/S) Ratio

The P/S ratio is more consistently reported across the time horizon, beginning near 10.65 and experiencing an uptrend, reaching the mid-teens by early 2022, peaking above 15.28. Post-peak, a marked gradual decline occurs, with values dropping into a range between 6.19 and 9.61. This pattern may indicate revenue growth outpacing price increases or a recalibration of investor expectations on revenue multiples over time.

Price to Book Value (P/BV) Ratio

The P/BV ratio declines steadily from a high near 23 in early 2019 to approximately 6.81 to 9.42 during 2023 and 2024. This consistent downward movement suggests either an increase in book value, a decrease in stock price, or both. The trend implies a valuation adjustment with respect to the company's net asset base, possibly reflecting more conservative market sentiments or enhanced asset accumulation.

In summary, the valuation ratios show initial periods of extreme highs or absence in certain profitability-based measures, followed by a normalization trend as more complete data becomes available. Market valuations appear to moderate, with improving profitability and revenue metrics impacting price multiples. The overall directional trends suggest improved underlying financial performance aligned with tempered investor expectations over the observed timeline.

Share Price Trend

The share price exhibits considerable volatility over the observed periods. Initially, it decreased from 207.91 US$ in April 2019 to a low around 143.3 US$ in October 2022. Following this trough, the price demonstrates a notable recovery trend, climbing to a peak of approximately 264.32 US$ by January 2024 before experiencing moderate fluctuations and settling around 238.01 US$ by April 2025. The overall pattern reflects cycles of decline and recovery, with the latter half showing stronger upward momentum in comparison to earlier periods.

Earnings per Share (EPS) Trend

The EPS figures start negative and show a gradual improvement over time. From a low of -2.22 US$ in July 2020, EPS steadily rises, ultimately turning positive around October 2021. A peak EPS value of 6.09 US$ is recorded in January 2024, indicating a significant turnaround in profitability. However, after this peak, EPS declines, showing a downward trend towards 1.82 US$ by April 2025. This indicates some volatility or challenges affecting earnings in the most recent periods after a period of strong improvement.

Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Ratio Analysis

The P/E ratio data is sparse and inconsistent across periods but reveals extremely high values at certain points, such as 2418.34 in January 2022 and 1957.29 in April 2022, suggesting that earnings were either very low or negative during those times, leading to inflated P/E ratios. More recent figures show P/E ratios declining to more typical levels ranging between approximately 37 and 130 by 2024 and 2025. These values, while still elevated, imply that the market has adjusted to improved earnings performance, though valuation remains relatively high compared to typical market averages.

Overall Insights

The data reflects a period of initial financial difficulty, as evidenced by negative EPS and highly inflated P/E ratios, followed by recovery in both share price and earnings. The improvement in EPS from negative to positive values is a critical indicator of enhanced profitability. The share price's trajectory appears somewhat correlated with these changes in underlying earnings performance. Despite volatility in both share price and EPS in the latest periods, the trend suggests a recovery phase with valuation stabilizing at a relatively high level, indicating market optimism tempered by some uncertainty.

Share price trend

The share price exhibited fluctuations over the entire period. Starting at $207.91 in April 2019, it experienced a general decline until October 2019 at $165.39, followed by a rise peaking at $299.09 in October 2021. After this peak, the share price declined substantially to $143.30 by October 2022. Subsequently, there was a recovery, reaching $264.32 in January 2024, though some volatility remained, ending near $238.01 in April 2025. Overall, the share price showed cyclical tendencies with notable high volatility.

Operating profit per share trend

Operating profit per share data began being reported from January 2020. Initially, it was negative, indicating losses, starting from -2.16 and gradually improving over time. By January 2024, this metric turned positive at 0.06 and continued to increase steadily to a high of 1.57 in January 2025, with a slight decrease to 1.46 in April 2025. This signifies a significant turnaround in operating profitability per share over the period, moving from losses to consistent profits.

Price to Operating Profit (P/OP) ratio analysis

The P/OP ratio, available only when operating profit per share becomes positive, showed extremely high values initially, e.g., 4065.25 in January 2024, reflecting either very low profitability or high share prices at that point. Subsequently, the ratio declined substantially to 155.71 by April 2025, which indicates that either operating profit per share increased faster than share price or share price decreased relative to profit. This reduction in P/OP ratio suggests improving market valuation relative to operational earnings.

Overall insights

The data portrays a company undergoing financial strengthening, with operating losses transitioning to profitability within the analyzed timeframe. The share price volatility correlates somewhat with the operational results, though the relationship is not strictly linear. The gradual decline of the P/OP ratio reflects enhanced operational efficiency and improved investor confidence in earnings quality. The positive trend in operating profit per share, combined with stabilization in the share price, suggests a maturing financial performance profile toward the end of the period.

The analysis of the quarterly financial data reveals notable trends in share price, sales per share, and the price-to-sales (P/S) ratio over the reported periods.

Share price

The share price exhibited significant fluctuations throughout the timeline. Initially, the price decreased from $207.91 in April 2019 to a low of $165.39 in October 2019. Following this decline, a recovery phase was observed, with the share price reaching a peak of $299.09 in October 2021. Thereafter, a downward trend resumed, descending to $143.30 by October 2022. A moderate rebound occurred from that point, with the share price increasing again to $264.32 by January 2024 before decreasing slightly toward the end of the dataset, stabilizing around the $238 range by April 2025.

Sales per share

Sales per share data became available starting January 2020, reflecting a continuous upward trend without any apparent interruptions. The figure increased steadily from $15.63 to $32.57 by April 2025. This consistent growth in sales per share indicates a positive revenue generation performance over the assessed periods.

Price-to-Sales (P/S) ratio

The P/S ratio presented more volatile behavior compared to sales per share. The ratio started at 10.65 in January 2020, then peaked at 15.28 in January 2022, corresponding with the peak in share price observed around October 2021. After this peak, the P/S ratio declined notably to a low of 6.19 by October 2022, indicating a reduced valuation relative to sales. Subsequently, the ratio fluctuated between approximately 7.31 and 9.61, suggesting that the market valuation relative to sales stabilized somewhat, yet remained below earlier highs.

In summary, while sales per share demonstrated strong and steady growth, the share price experienced considerable volatility with pronounced peaks and troughs. The P/S ratio mirrored this volatility on valuation levels, especially during periods of share price peaks and declines, before settling into a moderate range in recent quarters. These patterns suggest that despite increasing sales performance, market sentiment and valuation multiples have varied significantly, potentially influenced by external factors impacting investor confidence and broader market conditions.

The data reflects the financial performance of the company over a series of quarterly periods from April 2019 to April 2025, focusing on the share price, book value per share (BVPS), and price-to-book value ratio (P/BV).

Share Price Trend

The share price exhibited considerable volatility throughout the analyzed period. Initially, it declined from $207.91 in April 2019 to a low of approximately $143.30 by October 2022. Following this trough, the share price recovered, reaching a peak near $264.32 in January 2024. Subsequently, the share price slightly retreated but remained elevated relative to earlier lows, settling around $238.01 by April 2025. This pattern indicates a notable recovery phase after a mid-term decline.

Book Value Per Share (BVPS) Trend

BVPS showed a consistent upward trajectory across all observed quarters. Beginning from a value of $9.05 in April 2019, it increased steadily to reach $33.40 by April 2025. This steady rise in book value per share suggests ongoing accumulation of net assets or growth in shareholder equity, signaling strengthening fundamentals over the long term.

Price-to-Book Value Ratio (P/BV) Trend

The P/BV ratio demonstrated a marked decline over the timeline. It started at a high level of approximately 22.98 in April 2019 and dwindled to near 7.13 by April 2025. The initial steep decline points to a reduction in market valuation relative to the underlying book value, followed by stabilization and minor fluctuations in later periods. The ratio’s decrease implies that the market’s valuation became more conservative in relation to the company’s book value per share over time.

Integrated Insights

The inverse relationship observed between the steadily increasing BVPS and the declining P/BV ratio indicates that although the company’s intrinsic book value grew consistently, market participants increasingly valued the company at lower multiples of book value. The share price volatility, including the recovery after 2022, reflects market dynamics possibly influenced by broader economic factors or company-specific events rather than changes in the underlying equity base alone.