OI
Olo Inc. (OLO)·Q1 2025 Earnings Summary
Executive Summary
- Q1 2025 was a strong start: revenue $80.68M (+21% YoY) and non-GAAP operating income $11.5M both exceeded the high end of guidance; ARPU rose 12% YoY to ~$911; active locations grew ~2,000 sequentially to ~88,000 .
- Wall Street consensus was beaten on both revenue ($80.68M vs $77.44M*) and EPS ($0.07 vs $0.063*); note Q4 EPS was slightly below consensus, but Q1 resumed beats*.
- FY 2025 guidance was raised: revenue to $338.5–$340.0M (from $333.0–$336.0M) and non-GAAP operating income to $48.6–$49.8M (from $45.5–$47.0M) .
- Catalysts: Chipotle Catering+ pilot and a full card-present Olo Pay deployment with a publicly traded enterprise brand; management emphasized ramping card-present payments and the guest data flywheel strategy .
Values with asterisk retrieved from S&P Global.
What Went Well and What Went Wrong
What Went Well
- Exceeded the high end of guidance for revenue and non-GAAP operating income; added ~2,000 net new locations in Q1; ARPU +12% YoY to ~$911 .
- Strategic wins: “a Catering+ pilot with Chipotle, a new top 25 brand for Olo, and an Olo Pay card-present full deployment deal with an existing publicly traded enterprise customer” .
- Non-GAAP operating income rose to $11.5M (14% margin) from $5.6M (8% margin) YoY; GAAP turned profitable at $0.01 diluted EPS .
What Went Wrong
- Gross margin benefited from ~$1M one-time cost-of-revenue adjustment tied to Olo Pay; normalized Q1 gross margin would have been roughly in line with prior quarter .
- Free cash flow was negative ($1.9M) due to a partner billing change (advanced to arrears); normalized FCF would have been ~$4M .
- Management guided to gross margin compression of ~250–275 bps in 2025 as payments scale and card-present ramps, a headwind to margins despite growth .
Financial Results
Actuals by Quarter
Segment Revenue and Gross Profit
KPIs
Results vs S&P Global Consensus
Values with asterisk retrieved from S&P Global.
Guidance Changes
Earnings Call Themes & Trends
Management Commentary
- “We exceeded the high end of our revenue and non-GAAP operating income guidance ranges, and…added approximately 2,000 locations quarter-to-quarter” .
- “Chipotle…will pilot multiple Olo modules across a subset of locations to support their catering channel…a great validation of our platform’s strength and modularity” .
- “Gross profit…benefited from approximately $1 million of one-time cost of revenue adjustments associated with Olo Pay” .
- “We anticipate on a full-year basis, gross margins to come down…about 250 to 275 basis points…as we…scale into the card-present opportunity” .
- “Borderless guests are now over 16 million…more than 2 million…have used Borderless at two or more brands, up more than 10x from a year ago” .
Q&A Highlights
- Chipotle Catering+: multi-module pilot; Catering+ addresses catering-specific needs (tax-exempt, house accounts, production/prep slips), with attach opportunities (Olo Pay, Dispatch, Rails, Switchboard for phone orders) .
- Olo Pay margin/color: ~$1M Q1 one-time benefit from processor agreement and debit mix; FY25 gross margins compress ~250–275 bps as card-present scales .
- Macro/tariffs: enterprise limited-service brands showing trade-down share gains; customers have relatively limited tariff exposure, inputs mostly sourced domestically .
- Gross profit outlook: reacceleration from Q3 onward; Q1 strength from pulled-forward deployments and strong order volumes in QSR/limited service .
- Catering+ economics: primarily drives ARPU; high software-like margins; creates cross-sell pathways to Dispatch, Rails, Pay, Engage .
Estimates Context
- Q1 2025 beat: revenue $80.68M vs $77.44M consensus*; EPS $0.07 vs $0.063*; both above expectations.
- Prior quarters: Q4 revenue beat ($76.07M vs $72.76M*), EPS slight miss ($0.06 vs $0.0667*); Q3 revenue beat ($71.85M vs $70.94M*), EPS beat ($0.06 vs $0.0517*).
- Implication: FY 2025 guidance raised; estimates likely to move up on revenue/NGOI, while margin models should reflect 250–275 bps gross margin compression from payments mix .
Values with asterisk retrieved from S&P Global.
Key Takeaways for Investors
- Strong execution and beats in Q1 set a positive tone; sequential growth in locations and ARPU underscores demand across suites .
- Guidance raise for FY 2025 (revenue and NGOI) is a clear bullish signal; monitor card-present ramp pacing through 2H25 .
- Payments mix will pressure gross margins (250–275 bps compression), but scale and card-present economics should improve blended Pay margins over time .
- One-time Olo Pay cost-of-revenue benefit in Q1 (+$1M) is non-recurring; normalize gross margin/FCF when modeling .
- Chipotle pilot signals top-25 inroads for Catering+ and multi-module expansion; watch for conversion from pilot to broader deployment .
- Borderless network effects and Olo Guest Intelligence adoption support the guest data flywheel; expect Engage-driven monetization and cross-sell .
- Near-term trading: favor on guidance raise and new logos; be mindful of margin optics into Q2 (comp increases; tougher YoY GP compare) and look for reacceleration from Q3 .