Why Cloud Software Company Workday Is Tumbling

Workday (WDAY), which is often seen as a younger cousin of cloud king Salesforce.com (CRM), is down 9% today after reporting seemingly strong headline results after the close yesterday. The company, which is a cloud-based provider of human capital management software-- basically back-end applications for a company's human resources department--along with some financial management software, reported 57% revenue growth and touted the closing of three sizable deals in its quarterly report.

So, what gives? The key metric for the company, billings growth-- which is seen as an important forward looking indicator-- decelerated to 30% YoY this past quarter from 72% YoY growth seen in the prior quarter and the 94% YoY growth reported in the same period a year ago.