BOSTON, May 6, 2026, 12:07 EDT
- Klaviyo shares tumbled roughly 30%, despite the company topping first-quarter estimates and lifting its 2026 revenue forecast.
- CFO Amanda Whalen is set to leave after Aug. 21, raising fresh leadership questions just as investors keep a close watch on software growth.
- Second-quarter guidance from the company suggests growth is set to cool from Q1 levels; analysts also raised flags over margins and how well the team can deliver.
Klaviyo, Inc. shares dropped midday Wednesday. The marketing software company posted first-quarter numbers that topped forecasts, but also announced CFO Amanda Whalen plans to step down later this year.
The shares hovered around $16.33, off roughly 30%, and earlier scraped an intraday bottom at $15.59. That drop wiped out any post-earnings optimism from a beat-and-raise, shifting attention instead to new leadership, softer implied growth, and pressure on margins in the short term.
Klaviyo posted a 28% jump in revenue for the quarter ended March 31, hitting $358.0 million—topping the $348.6 million FactSet consensus reported by MarketScreener. Adjusted earnings landed at 22 cents a share, two cents above the estimate.
The company now expects full-year 2026 revenue between $1.514 billion and $1.522 billion, projecting 23% growth. For the second quarter, it sees revenue landing between $359 million and $363 million, up 23% to 24% over last year.
The shape of the outlook is causing headaches. Klaviyo expects Q2 growth to cool to below Q1’s 28%, and its non-GAAP operating margin guidance—a range of 13% to 14%—lands short of the 16.4% achieved in the prior quarter. Stifel took its price target down to $28 from $35, flagging the margin guide, CFO turnover, carrier messaging fees, and heavier AI spending as concerns.
Whalen stays on as CFO until Aug. 21, after which she’ll advise through November as the board hunts for her replacement. According to a filing summary, the exit isn’t linked to any dispute or concerns over financial controls.
“Strongest operating margin as a public company,” Co-CEO Andrew Bialecki said. Customers shifting more engagement tasks to Klaviyo’s platform are delivering “durable results,” according to Whalen. Klaviyo Investors
Klaviyo, which provides B2C customer relationship management tools—software for brands to handle shopper data and push out messages via email, SMS, mobile push, and other channels—finished the quarter with a customer count topping 196,000. Notably, the segment of customers each generating more than $50,000 in annual recurring revenue climbed 38% to reach 4,175, based on what the company reported.
Net revenue retention landed at 110%, so customers who stuck around shelled out 10% more than they did a year ago—even after accounting for churn and downgrades. Internationally, revenue climbed 39% outside the Americas. Stripping out the UK, sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa surged 51%.
The field is crowded. Klaviyo is targeting bigger-name retailers and consumer brands, aiming to pull business away from broad marketing players like Salesforce as well as from email specialists such as Intuit’s Mailchimp. Publicly traded customer engagement firms like Braze are after the same budgets, focusing on data-driven messaging spend. Over in Shopify’s app marketplace, Klaviyo appears side by side with Mailchimp and Brevo under email and SMS marketing.
Analysts held their positions on the stock but reined in targets. Piper Sandler dropped its price target to $26 from $30, sticking with an overweight rating but noting that doubts have cropped up over future earnings surprises and how margins will shape up. Wells Fargo, per MarketBeat, also lowered its target to $26 from $30, keeping its overweight call unchanged.
The downside looks sharper now. Should Klaviyo’s AI investment, higher messaging expenses, or the transition to a new CFO start dragging on margins, and if revenue growth keeps slowing, investors could step back from the fast-growth software narrative. The stock may be judged instead on its ability to deliver operating leverage—every quarter.
