March 25 (Reuters) - Corporate travel booking agency

Navan on Wednesday forecast 2027 revenue above Wall

Street estimates, banking on strong demand from on-boarding new

company clients to its platform.

Navan makes a bulk of its revenue from big enterprise

customers, which includes companies in the AI & technology,

manufacturing and health sectors.

In February, Navan signed on Yahoo, which selected the

platform to integrate AI into the travel booking process and

reduce its travel spend by 7% to 10%.

The Palo Alto, California-based firm expects 2027 revenue in

the range of $866 to $874 million, compared to analysts' average

estimate of about $839 million, as per LSEG-compiled data

"We are seeing a great return and very attractive payback on

our sales and marketing investment," CFO Aurélien Nolf told

Reuters, adding that it was going to remain a priority as Navan

looks to onboard more clients over the next year.

Sales and marketing expenses during the fourth quarter ended

January 31 more than doubled to $117.3 million from $57 million

last year.

During the same period, gross bookings came in at $2.3

billion, up 42% from last year and above analysts' estimates of

$2.14 billion.

Fourth-quarter revenue grew 34.7% to $178 million, above

expectations of $162 million.

Navan could also benefit from an increase in the cost of

travel as oil prices spike due to the ongoing conflict in the

Middle East.

"Navan earns more money when the cost of travel goes up,

that's a fact," Nolf said. "Something like gas being more

expensive would benefit us in the short term," he added.

The travel technology company debuted on Nasdaq at $22 per

share in October at a valuation of roughly $5.9 billion. Since

then, its value has fallen 61.3% to $8.51 per share as of

Tuesday's close.