DevOps company GitLab Inc. beat expectations on earnings and revenue as it delivered its fourth-quarter financial results, swinging to a profit in the process and sending its stock slightly higher in extended trading.

The results were tempered by conservative guidance for the current quarter and full year, however, while the company’s managerial shakeup continued with yet more new appointments announced in executive roles.

The company reported earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation of 33 cents per share, easily beating the analyst consensus estimate of 23 cents. Revenue for the period jumped 29%, to $211.4 million, ahead of Wall Street’s target of $206.2 million.

The strong results meant GitLab was able to deliver a net profit of $10.8 million in the quarter, swinging from a $36.9 million loss in the year-ago quarter.

GitLab is a pioneer in DevSecOps, selling software that enables companies to adopt a modern strategy of rapid, continuous software updates by combining their developer teams and information technology operations staff. Using GitLab’s tools, developers can share code more easily and create new applications faster than before.

Despite growing fast, the company has experienced a tumultuous few months, with its co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Sid Sijbrandij recently stepping down from his position to focus on his battle with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer. He was replaced three months ago by former New Relic Inc. CEO Bill Staples (pictured), and the transition appears to have put to bed any talk of a possible sale of the company to Datadog Inc., which was named as a likely suitor.

Staples, in his first conference call as GitLab’s top executive, said the results demonstrate the power of the company’s innovative DevSecOps platform.

“AI is fundamentally changing the software development landscape,” the CEO said. “With the GitLab platform and GitLab Duo, customers can leverage AI that ensures their software quality, security, privacy, compliance and governance requirements are met to deliver secure software faster.”

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller said GitLab has more or less completed its transition from being a simple code repository for DevOps teams to a leading player in DevSecOps, which goes further by making sure all of those code assets are safe and secure.

“GitLab’s customers like the direction it is going in, and its growth of just below 30% is a sure sign of that,” the analyst said.

Looking to the current quarter, Gitlab issued a conservative forecast, saying it hopes for earnings of between 14 and 15 cents per share on revenue of $212 million to $213 million. Wall Street is looking for a bit more with its forecast of 15 cents on sales of $213.6 million.

For the full year fiscal 2025, GitLab sees earnings of between 68 and 72 cents per share on revenue of $936 million to $942 million. That compares somewhat poorly with Wall Street’s forecast of 80 cents per share in earnings and $938.9 million in sales.

Despite the lower forecast, investors were in a forgiving mood, and the company’s stock rose 2% after-hours, following a big drop in stocks overall earlier today on news of Trump’s tariffs.

In a second announcement, GitLab said it has hired Ian Steward as its new chief revenue officer, replacing the interim CRO Ashley Kramer, who will continue to serve as chief marketing and strategy officer.

In addition, the company named David Henshall, a former president and CEO of Citrix Systems Inc., to its board.

“It’s good to see the upgrades to GitLab’s executive team too, with a new Chief Revenue Officer coming in to join the relatively new CFO, and seasoned CEO Bill Staples making himself comfortable with three months at the helm now,” Mueller said. “This brings more stability and investors like to see this.”

Photo: New Relic