With the business potentially at an important milestone, we thought we'd take a closer look at Appian Corporation's (NASDAQ:APPN) future prospects. Appian Corporation provides low-code process automation platform in the United States and internationally. The US$2.9b market-cap company posted a loss in its most recent financial year of US$151m and a latest trailing-twelve-month loss of US$136m shrinking the gap between loss and breakeven. As path to profitability is the topic on Appian's investors mind, we've decided to gauge market sentiment. We've put together a brief outline of industry analyst expectations for the company, its year of breakeven and its implied growth rate.

Check out our latest analysis for Appian

According to the 10 industry analysts covering Appian, the consensus is that breakeven is near. They expect the company to post a final loss in 2024, before turning a profit of US$189m in 2025. So, the company is predicted to breakeven approximately 2 years from today. What rate will the company have to grow year-on-year in order to breakeven on this date? Using a line of best fit, we calculated an average annual growth rate of 39%, which is extremely buoyant. Should the business grow at a slower rate, it will become profitable at a later date than expected.

We're not going to go through company-specific developments for Appian given that this is a high-level summary, though, keep in mind that generally a high forecast growth rate is not unusual for a company that is currently undergoing an investment period.

Before we wrap up, there’s one issue worth mentioning. Appian currently has a debt-to-equity ratio of over 2x. Typically, debt shouldn’t exceed 40% of your equity, which in this case, the company has significantly overshot. Note that a higher debt obligation increases the risk in investing in the loss-making company.

Next Steps:

There are key fundamentals of Appian which are not covered in this article, but we must stress again that this is merely a basic overview. For a more comprehensive look at Appian, take a look at Appian's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also compiled a list of key aspects you should further research:

1. Valuation: What is Appian worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Appian is currently mispriced by the market.
2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Appian’s board and the CEO’s background.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.