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Datadog, Inc.: Q1 FY2026 earnings call

What management said about Q1 FY2026, from the documents filed with the SEC on 7 May 2026: press release. Guidance figures: 3 raised, 3 new. The quarter’s numbers.

Key takeaways

  • Revenue grew 32% year over year: Revenue was $1,006.4 million, up 32% from $761.6 million in the first quarter of 2025. Source
  • Revenue above February guidance range: February guidance for this quarter was $951 million to $961 million. Reported revenue was about $45 million above the top of that range.
  • Non-GAAP operating income reached $223 million: Non-GAAP operating income was $223.5 million, a 22% margin, against $166.5 million and a 22% margin a year earlier. Source
  • Larger customers highlighted in headline: Headline cites growth in larger customers, counted as accounts with $100,000 or more in ARR. Source
  • Bits AI Security Analyst cuts investigation time: Bits AI Security Analyst, now generally available in Cloud SIEM, is described as reducing threat investigation time by up to 98%. Source
  • Gross margin held at 80%: Non-GAAP gross margin was 80% in both periods. GAAP gross margin was 79% in both periods. Source
  • Operating cash flow and free cash flow: Operating cash flow was $335 million and free cash flow was $289 million in the quarter. Source

“We are helping customers of all sizes and industries deploy modern, cloud-based, AI-enabled solutions.”

Olivier Pomel, co-founder and CEO of Datadog

Guidance

AreaPeriodFigureAgainst last quarter
Revenue SourceSecond quarter 2026$1.07 billion to $1.08 billionNew
Non-GAAP operating income SourceSecond quarter 2026$225 million to $235 millionNew
Non-GAAP net income per share SourceSecond quarter 2026$0.57 to $0.59, assuming approximately 369 million weighted average diluted sharesNew
Revenue SourceFull year 2026$4.30 billion to $4.34 billionRaised from $4.06 billion to $4.10 billion
Non-GAAP operating income SourceFull year 2026$940 million to $980 millionRaised from $840 million to $880 million
Non-GAAP net income per share SourceFull year 2026$2.36 to $2.44, assuming approximately 372 million weighted average diluted sharesRaised from $2.08 to $2.16, assuming approximately 372 million weighted average diluted shares

What changed from last quarter

  • Guidance raised: Full-year 2026 revenue, non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP EPS ranges raised from the February guidance. Source
  • New guidance: Second-quarter 2026 guidance given for revenue, non-GAAP operating income and non-GAAP EPS. Source
  • New: Strategic partnership with Sakana AI on research, product innovation and go-to-market work for enterprise AI adoption. Source
  • New: Dominic Phillips appointed to the board. He is CFO of Samsara and previously held roles at ServiceNow and Morgan Stanley. Source
  • New: Datadog for Government received FedRAMP High certification. Source
  • New: MCP Server, Bits AI Security Agent, GPU Monitoring and Experiments launched for general availability. Source

Results and growth drivers

  • Revenue grew 32% year over year: Revenue was $1,006.4 million, up 32% from $761.6 million in the first quarter of 2025. Source
  • Revenue above February guidance range: February guidance for this quarter was $951 million to $961 million. Reported revenue was about $45 million above the top of that range.
  • GAAP operating result moved to income: GAAP operating income was $7.3 million, compared with a loss of $12.4 million in the prior-year quarter. Source
  • Non-GAAP operating income reached $223 million: Non-GAAP operating income was $223.5 million, a 22% margin, against $166.5 million and a 22% margin a year earlier. Source
  • Both EPS measures reported: GAAP diluted EPS was $0.15 and non-GAAP diluted EPS was $0.60, against $0.07 and $0.46 a year earlier. Source

Customers and larger accounts

  • Larger customers highlighted in headline: Headline cites growth in larger customers, counted as accounts with $100,000 or more in ARR. Source
  • Count definition at quarter end: The $100,000-plus ARR customer count is based on each customer's ARR in the last month of the quarter. Source
  • Million-dollar customer count last reported: The February release gave 603 customers with ARR of $1 million or more. This release does not report that count.

“We're using AI to build rapidly across the Datadog platform”

Olivier Pomel, co-founder and CEO of Datadog

Products and research

  • Bits AI Security Analyst cuts investigation time: Bits AI Security Analyst, now generally available in Cloud SIEM, is described as reducing threat investigation time by up to 98%. Source
  • GPU fleet monitoring for AI workloads: GPU Monitoring gives unified visibility into GPU fleet health, cost and performance, linked to the teams and workloads using them. Source
  • Experiments embedded in observability: Experiments adds A/B test design, measurement and optimization inside the platform, with observability guardrails. Source
  • AI model requests fail in production: The State of AI Engineering 2026 report found nearly 5% of AI model requests failing in production, most from capacity limits. Source
  • Software supply chain vulnerabilities: The 2026 State of DevSecOps Report found 87% of organizations run software with known, exploitable vulnerabilities. Source

Costs and margins

  • Gross margin held at 80%: Non-GAAP gross margin was 80% in both periods. GAAP gross margin was 79% in both periods. Source
  • Non-GAAP R&D expense increased: Non-GAAP research and development was $300.4 million, against $225.7 million a year earlier. Source
  • Non-GAAP sales and marketing increased: Non-GAAP sales and marketing was $235.3 million, compared with $178.4 million in the prior-year quarter. Source
  • Stock-based compensation expense increased: Stock-based compensation expense was $196.8 million, compared with $164.3 million a year earlier. Source

Cash, capital and balance sheet

  • Operating cash flow and free cash flow: Operating cash flow was $335 million and free cash flow was $289 million in the quarter. Source
  • Free cash flow margin declined: Free cash flow margin was 29%, against 32% in the first quarter of 2025. Source
  • Cash and securities total $4.8 billion: Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $4.8 billion at March 31, 2026. Source
  • Capital spending on property and software: Purchases of property and equipment were $11.4 million, and capitalized software development costs were $34.2 million. Source
  • Cash paid for acquisitions: Cash paid for acquisitions, net of cash acquired, was $10.7 million in the quarter. Source

Demand and the order book

  • Current deferred revenue increased: Current deferred revenue was $1,231.2 million at March 31, 2026, up from $1,193.6 million at December 31, 2025. Source
  • Non-current deferred revenue declined: Non-current deferred revenue was $50.9 million at March 31, 2026, down from $68.7 million at December 31, 2025. Source
  • Accounts receivable declined: Accounts receivable, net, was $680.4 million at March 31, 2026, compared with $741.3 million at December 31, 2025. Source

Coming up, as management said on 7 May 2026

  • DASH 2026 conference in June: DASH 2026, Datadog's ninth annual conference, takes place June 9-10 in New York City. Registration is open. Source
  • Sakana partnership to expand globally: The Sakana partnership starts with large enterprise customers in Japan and is planned to expand globally afterward. Source

Figures management reported

FigureReported
Customers with ARR of $100,000 or more Sourceabout 4,550 as of March 31, 2026, up 21% from about 3,770

Risks management discussed

  • Financial: Management said reconciling items such as stock-based compensation and payroll taxes could be material to GAAP results, and guidance is not reconciled to GAAP. Source

Other quarters

Summarised with AI from the documents the company filed with the SEC. Every point is checked against the filing before it is shown: management’s own words word for word, figures against the line or table row they come from. A point that fails the check is left out. Source opens the filing at that line.