Snap Stock Slides After it Misses Expected Earnings
Tami Abdollah was dot.LA's senior technology reporter. She was previously a national security and cybersecurity reporter for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. She's been a reporter for the AP in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times and for L.A.'s NPR affiliate KPCC. Abdollah spent nearly a year in Iraq as a U.S. government contractor. A native Angeleno, she's traveled the world on $5 a day, taught trad climbing safety classes and is an avid mountaineer. Follow her on Twitter.
Snap Inc. stock dropped more than 10% on Tuesday after it reported earnings that missed analysts expectations for Q4.
The self-described camera company, based in Santa Monica, reported revenue of $561 million versus the expected $563 million. The company's reported cash flow remains negative despite improvement over the year prior. The company said it lost $240.7 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with FactSet estimates of a 12-cent loss per share.
It reported a full year increase of 17%, or an additional 31 million, daily active users in 2019 compared to last year. The company, which is the maker of the Snapchat app, said it continues to invest in augmented reality platforms with 75% of its community engaging with AR on average daily. Snap also recently launched its new Bitmoji TV on Feb. 1, capitalizing on the popular Bitmoji Stories.
Snap reported that it expects revenue in Q1 of 2020 to be between $450 million and $470 million. That's above analysts expectations of $462 million.
Snap is up roughly 160% from last year, with a 52-week high $19.75 from its low of $6.80.
During Tuesday's earnings call, CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel told analysts that the company was continuing to invest in its curated Discover page content.
"There are really interest shifts in content consumption," from television to mobile, Spiegel said. "Content hasn't caught up to this behavior shift (yet)."
Short-form video has taken off, especially with Gen Z, with youths moving into houses in Los Angeles, for example, specifically to generate TikTok videos as sponsored social media influencers. Meanwhile, soon-to-be launched, Quibi, or "quick bites," founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and with CEO Meg Whitman is betting that bespoke episodic weekly videos that are under 10 minutes will take off.
--
Do you have a story that needs to be told? My DMs are open on Twitter @latams. You can also email me, or ask for my Signal.
Tami Abdollah was dot.LA's senior technology reporter. She was previously a national security and cybersecurity reporter for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. She's been a reporter for the AP in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times and for L.A.'s NPR affiliate KPCC. Abdollah spent nearly a year in Iraq as a U.S. government contractor. A native Angeleno, she's traveled the world on $5 a day, taught trad climbing safety classes and is an avid mountaineer. Follow her on Twitter.
Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.
On this week's episode of the L.A. Venture podcast, hear from Chang Xu, partner at Basis Set Ventures, a $140 million fund focused on AI and automation - technology that transforms the way people work.
- Mark Suster of Upfront Ventures on VC's Primary Job - dot.LA ›
- Thin Line Capital's Aaron Fyke on Clean Tech Investing - dot.LA ›
The Santa Monica-based movie-ticketing service Atom Tickets has pre-sold more tickets for "Godzilla vs. Kong" than any film since the start of lockdown.
Following a disastrous year for the box office, its performance could be a litmus test for Hollywood and the many theaters that teetered on the brink during the pandemic.
The Theatrical Release Window: Will the Changes Last?
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e7bb2683314ede849919cd30d57c4099"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZOlPoYDVYwk?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>- Warner Bros.' Films Will Be Released in Theaters, HBO Max - dot.LA ›
- VidCon Returns! Could Other In-Person Events Be Coming Soon ... ›
Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake
