Weibo Shares Plunge on Lower-than-expected Earnings, Weaker 1Q Guidance

(Caixin) Chinese social media giant Weibo Corp.’s shares fell more than 4% after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter earnings and downgraded its first-quarter guidance.

The operator of a microblogging website similar to Twitter reported fourth-quarter earnings of $95.1 million, or 42 cents a share, down 43% from $166.5 million, or 74 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Analysts expected earnings of 66 cents a share.

Adjusted for items, earnings were 77 cents a share. Analysts expected adjusted earnings of 72 cents a share. Revenue declined by 3% to $468.1 million.

The company said that its business in the first quarter has been hurt significantly by the coronavirus outbreak in China. Weibo said it sees first-quarter revenue down 15% to 20% year-over-year.

Weibo had 516 million monthly active users at the end of December, a net addition of about 54 million from the previous year, and down 23% from 70 million users added in the fourth quarter of 2018 from the previous year.

Source: Caixin By Denise Jia / Feb 27, 2020 06:36 AM