I don’t get why billings has become such an important metric, to me it is flawed. You take revenue and add the QUARTER OVER QUARTER change in deferred revenue, and compare to last year.
Most conference calls, one of the first questions is about billings.
Deferred revenue is like cash flow, the timing of payments can drastically change the number, so it’s best to look at a TTM.
A much better method (to me) is to look at y/y change in deferred revenue, or a billings number that is calculated using a y/y change in deferred revenue.
ESTC deferred revenue up 58% y/y. No issue.
Jim