Snap Inc. Misses On Revenue In Q1

Posted by on May 10th, 2017

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) posted revenue for the first quarter that missed estimates in its first quarterly earnings report since going public. The company reported revenue of $150 million, lower than the $158 million expected by a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate, but 286 percent higher than the year-ago period. The company reported revenue of $38.8 million in the same quarter of last year.

For the first quarter of its fiscal year, Snap reported a net loss $2.2 billion, or $2.31 a share. The company spent $2.0 billion on stock-based compensation expenses after its initial public offering. CEO Evan Spiegel got a $750 million bonus for taking Snap public.

Snap hit 166 million daily active users in the first quarter of 2017 for a growth rate of 5 percent. Wall Street analysts had expected the company to report reaching 167.3 million daily active users. Snap added 3 million new users in North America in the first quarter and added 3 million new users in Europe. In the Rest Of World region, the company reported adding just 1 million users.

Snapchat grew quickly from its early days, but that growth has slowed considerably. Year-over-year, Snap’s growth rate has fallen 36 percent. The company grew 13.8 percent in Q4 2015, 14 percent in Q1 2016, and 17.2 percent in Q2 2016. Snapchat grew just 7 percent in Q3 2016 and 3.2 percent in Q4.

Since the Snap IPO, Facebook has been very aggressive about copying Snapchat. Facebook has launched several clones of Snapchat Stories, including Messenger Day, WhatsApp Status, and Facebook Stories. Its Instagram Stories, with 200 million daily actives, remains larger than Snap’s entire app. The whole Instagram app has about 700 million monthly users.

Some are beginning to question whether Snapchat can continue to survive Facebook’s onslaught. The tech giant’s moves could be blocking future growth for Snapchat. Snapchat has fought back, rolling out a Stories Search feature for certain topical posts and launching a slate of new creative tools.

Spiegel focused on highlighting the company’s progress on Android development on the earnings call. The improved performance of the Android app allowed Snapchat to double the amount of net additional Android devices on the network. Android accounted for 30 percent of net additional users in the quarter. The company’s chief strategist, Imran Khan, said on the conference call, “We made good progress this quarter improving the performance and quality of our Snapchat application, especially on Android, which has helped result in increased net user adds and engagement.”

After the earnings announcement, Snap’s shares immediately fell more than 24 percent in after-hours trading. Snap’s shares are now trading around $18.19, the lowest since it went public.