One-glance verdict
Not enough data
Fair value unavailable
Not enough cash-flow history to value this one with our method.
Fundamentals snapshot
Lightspeed Commerce Inc.
LSPD · NYQ · Technology · Software - Application
Current price
$10.31
52-week range
$7.83 - $14.34
Market cap
$1.35B
Balance sheet
Healthy
-116.30x Concerning
Net cash $433.74M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
1 Reward
1 Risk
1 rewards · 1 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 14.0% last year.
- Risk Return on equity was -9.2% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
What this company does
Lightspeed Commerce Inc.
Lightspeed provides the all-in-one software and payment systems that small businesses like cafes and retail stores use to run their daily operations, from the cash register to their online store. The company makes money primarily by charging a monthly subscription fee, which provides predictable recurring revenue (income the company can count on regularly), and by taking a small percentage of every sale it processes for its clients. This is important because by becoming the central operating system for a small business, Lightspeed's platform becomes an essential tool that is difficult for customers to replace.
How the company got here
Founded in 2005 in Montreal, Canada, by Dax Dasilva, Lightspeed started by creating a simpler, more powerful point-of-sale (POS) system for local retail shops, moving their operations from paper ledgers to the cloud. A key turning point was expanding into the hospitality industry in 2014, serving restaurants and hotels. The company grew significantly through numerous acquisitions of other software companies, which added new features and expanded its reach globally. Going public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2019 and the New York Stock Exchange in 2020 provided the funds to fuel this expansion and solidify its position.
What it actually does
Lightspeed provides an all-in-one, cloud-based system that helps small and medium-sized businesses like retail stores, restaurants, and golf courses run their daily operations. Think of it as the digital brain of a shop or restaurant; it replaces the traditional cash register with a tablet or computer that processes sales, manages inventory (the products a store has on hand), handles online orders, and tracks customer information. The system also helps businesses sell online, manage employees, and analyze sales data to make better decisions. Essentially, it simplifies the complex tasks of running a business into a single, easy-to-use platform.
Subscription-Based Software
This is the core of Lightspeed's business, where customers pay a recurring monthly or annual fee to use its software platform. This is similar to how you might pay for a streaming service like Netflix. Businesses choose different plans based on their size and the features they need, such as inventory management, analytics (the study of business data to find patterns), and customer loyalty programs. This subscription model provides a steady and predictable stream of revenue (money the company earns) for Lightspeed. While a significant part of the business, it makes up a smaller portion of total revenue compared to transaction-based fees.
Transaction-Based Solutions
This is Lightspeed's largest and fastest-growing source of income, primarily from its payment processing service, Lightspeed Payments. When a customer pays for a coffee or a shirt using a credit or debit card at a business using Lightspeed, the company takes a small percentage of that transaction as a fee. This segment also includes financial services like Lightspeed Capital, which offers cash advances to merchants to help them buy inventory or expand. This part of the business grows as the merchants using Lightspeed sell more to their own customers.
Hardware and Other Services
To make its software work in a physical store or restaurant, Lightspeed sells the necessary hardware. This includes things like iPad stands, receipt printers, cash drawers, and payment terminals. The company also provides services to help businesses get set up and running on the platform. While important for providing a complete solution, this is a smaller part of Lightspeed's overall business compared to its software and payment services.
What management is betting on now
The company is currently focused on a strategy of profitable growth by concentrating on its strongest markets: retail businesses in North America and restaurants and hotels in Europe. Management is investing in its sales teams and improving its software to attract larger businesses that process more sales, which in turn increases Lightspeed's revenue from payment processing. They are also heavily investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to automate tasks for their customers, like inventory management, and to provide better business insights. The ultimate goal is to become the single, unified platform for everything a retail or hospitality business needs, from managing daily operations to ordering from suppliers.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value — vs current price $10.31
We couldn't calculate a fair value right now.
Is it drowning in debt?
Healthy
Net cash $433.7M - more cash than debt. Interest coverage -116.3x.
Net debt
$-433.74M
Interest coverage
-116.30x
Lightspeed Commerce Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 0.0 times over. which is weaker than most peers shown here and 1 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Healthy
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
LSPD
BASELINE
Lightspeed Commerce Inc.
Total debt $20.16M Interest coverage -116.30x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $17.00M Interest coverage 25.33x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while LSPD does not.
Total debt $4.58B Interest coverage 1.77x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while LSPD does not.
Total debt $179.00M Interest coverage 1,639.13x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while LSPD does not.
Total debt $433.82M Interest coverage -11.36x Neither company has much profit cushion over interest right now.
What you should know
The case for and against LSPD
1 Reward
1 Risk
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 14.0% last year.
Risks
-
Return on equity was -9.2% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
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Forward P/E
11.21x
P/B
0.96x
P/S
1.10x
EV/EBITDA
-23.49x
PEG ratio
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Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
42.9%
Operating margin
-11.5%
Net margin
-11.8%
ROE
-9.2%
ROA
-4.9%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.01x
Current ratio
4.28x
Quick ratio
3.19x
Total debt
$20.16M
Total cash
$453.91M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$1.23B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
18.9%
EPS TTM
-1.04
EPS 5Y CAGR
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Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$55.46M
Free CF TTM
$-3.93M
FCF margin
-0.3%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
—
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
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