RENN Rises: Q1 Beats, Q2 Rev View Light
By Tiernan Ray
blogs.barrons.com
Shares of Renren ( RENN), sometimes called The Facebook of China, are up 12 cents, or 2%, at $5.61 in late trading after the company this evening reported Q1 revenue that topped analysts’ expectations and a smaller-than-expected net loss per share in line with estimates, but projected the current quarter’s sales below consensus.
Revenue in the three months ended in March rose 56%, year over year, to $32.1 million, yielding a net loss of 3 cents.
Analysts had been modeling $29.7 million and a 4-cent loss, according to FactSet.
For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $41 million to $43 million, versus the consensus $45.9 million.
CEO Joseph Chen said the quarter proved the value of the company’s multiple income sources, with gaming revenue offsetting weakness in advertising revenue amidst a slowdown in China.
“Our brand advertising business experienced a challenging quarter due to seasonality and Chinese economy slow-down, resulting in a more cautious approach by new advertisers on our social networking platform,” said Chen.
“However, our gaming revenue, driven by the popularity of our recently launched games and mobile gaming efforts, outperformed our expectation, offsetting the weakness in advertising.”
The company’s online ad revenue rose 15%, to $9.3 million, while gaming revenue was up 91% at $17.5 million.
Renren said it will continue to invest in efforts to monetizemobileuse of its service, though “monetization on mobile is still at a nascent stage.”
Renren will host a conference call with analysts this evening, at 9 pm, Eastern time, which you can dial into from the U.S. via 718-354-1231. |
