

The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Must-Read Trump Quote on Social Securityġ0 Reasons Why I'm Selling All of My Apple Stockĭaniel Sparks has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Management is certainly pleased with the cloud storage specialist's progress, noting in its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings release that it was an "incredible first year as a public company with a great Q4."ģ Stocks That Are Absurdly Cheap Right Nowĥ Warren Buffett Principles to Remember in a Volatile Stock Market Though Dropbox's stock may have delivered an underwhelming performance since the company's IPO, Dropbox's growth in ARPU, paying users, and free cash flow highlights a healthy business.

That compares to an 11% gain for the S&P 500 over the same timeframe. In fact, the stock - at $22.26 as of Wednesday's market close - now trades only 6% higher than its IPO price of $21. Though Dropbox stock soared 36% on its first day of trading, shares have since pulled back sharply. "e see a lot of opportunity with HelloSign both in their existing business and products and where this can go in the future," said HelloSign CEO Drew Houston about the acquisition in the company's fourth-quarter earnings call. HelloSign software on a laptop, tablet, and smartphone Dropbox paid $230 million in cash to buy the company.

Topping off an eventful first year as a publicly trading company, Dropbox acquired HelloSign, an eSignature, workflow, and online fax company, earlier this year. Free cash flow was substantialĬapturing Dropbox's strong business model, free cash flow in 2018 was $362 million, up from $305 million in 2017 and $137 million in 2016. Non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.41 2018, up from $0.17 in 2017. Thanks to higher revenue and an improved non-GAAP gross margin, Dropbox's non-GAAP net income soared, rising from $59.5 million in 2017 to $166.2 million in 2018. Highlighting the scalability of Dropbox's business, the company's GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin improved year over year. 12.7 million paying usersĭropbox's paying users saw robust growth, rising from 11 million at the end of 2017 to 12.7 million in 2018. The important metric rose to $117.64 in 2018. But Dropbox saw a substantial increase in its ARPU since it has gone public.

In the years leading up to Dropbox's IPO, ARPU seemed to be leveling off.
