Prime Allied Limited - New AppFolio CEO Shakes Real Estate Software Market

CENTRAL, Hong Kong - Sept. 14, 2023 - PRLog -- On March 2, AppFolio appointed Shane Trigg, a former Salesforce (CRM) employee, to the position of CEO. Trigg was the general manager of real estate at AppFolio before being appointed CEO. Simultaneously, AppFolio changed its board of directors.

The Santa Barbara, California-based corporation launched a series of layoffs after announcing that its operational loss soared by more than 500% to $72.3 million in 2022. The firm announced its second wave of 2023 layoffs in August, cutting 149 employees, or nearly 9% of its workforce.

According to experts, in addition to downsizing, AppFolio has concentrated on efficiency-oriented technologies and lowering its office area. As a consequence, AppFolio stock was recently upgraded to buy or outperform by three Wall Street analysts.

"While we have long believed that APPF would maintain impressive growth, the murky profit side of the coin stood out as the main issue for us," noted Stephens analyst John Campbell in a recent client note. "There has been a series of recent actions taken to elevate the margin profile following a change in leadership, all of which combined signal a clear shift in the mindset to profitable growth." This has been the missing piece of the APPF tale for us."

Push from AppFolio's Largest Shareholder

In early November, AppFolio's major stakeholder urged for a stronger emphasis on profitability. Maurice Duca is a partner with Investment Group of Santa Barbara. AppFolio was supported by IGSB, a venture capital company, before to its first public offering in 2015, and Duca currently holds 39% of the voting power in APPF shares.

Wall Street analysts seem to be on board with AppFolio, yet its value may cause worry if improved profitability does not materialize.

Prime Allied Limited (https://prime-allied.com) provides asset management and financial consulting. Prime Allied Limited works with you to create a financial strategy that allows you to actively build, conserve, and diversify your assets.