Atlassian's results cemented its status as a high growth technology stock – featuring surging revenue growth and, technically, a record quarterly loss.

Revenue target

The maker of project management software JIRA booked a $US4.7 million ($6.2 million) loss for the June quarter, based on international accounting standards, its deepest loss on record. That was despite record quarterly revenue of $US127.6 million, up 39 per cent from a year ago, which was ahead of analyst expectations.

For the full year, the company generated net income of $US4.4 million, its smallest annual profit since 2012, on a record total revenue of $US457.1 million, up 43 per cent from a year earlier.

However, once expenses related to share-based compensation and other items are stripped out, it booked net income of $US16.4 million for the quarter, and $US71.3 million for the full year

Shares edged 11¢, or 0.4 per cent higher to $US30.04 in after hours trading in the US.

In the 2017 financial year, the company is targeting revenue of between $US592 million and $US602 million, which would be an increase of about 30 per cent on the recently completed financial year, and free cash flow of between $US145 million and $US155 million.

"We operate in really large markets, there is just a lot of demand out there for the products we provide," said Mr Farquhar.


Atlassian shares are about 40 per cent above the IPO price of $US21, making the company's decision to list last year look prescient. Since then, the market for tech IPOs in the US has cooled considerably, with many highly valued privately held start-ups seeking to avoid the scrutiny of public markets.

Prominent venture capitalists have urged so-called unicorns (start-ups valued at $US1 billion) to IPO, arguing that the rigour of being publicly traded is a good thing that can instil more financial discipline into their operations.

Mr Farquhar said the IPO had been a positive experience for Atlassian.

"It's just a milestone on a long-term journey to be a large and profitable company," he said. "We are successful as a public company because we built an amazing business, we chose to go public when the time was right for us. Each company has to make their own decision."