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.

Shares of Navan rose over 21% ‌in aftermarket trading.

The Palo Alto, California-based firm 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%.

Navan expects 2027 revenue in ‌the range of $866 million to $874 ⁠million, compared with 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. It posted an adjusted per share profit of 2 cents for the reported quarter, compared to ‌estimates of a loss of 12 cents.

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.

(Reporting by Aishwarya ​Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)