Earnings: Meet Group posts mixed Q4 results, acquires Growlr

The Meet Group (MEET), which runs the popular dating app MeetMe, saw its shares plunge almost 13% on Wednesday, despite posting fourth-quarter revenue that surpassed analysts’ expectation, besides announcing the acquisition of Growlr.

The top line grew 31% year-over-year to $52.5 million in the fourth quarter, narrowly surpassing the street consensus of $52.3 million. While user pay revenue doubled during the quarter, advertising revenues were down 14%.

Adjusted net income was flat at 12 cents per share and in line with the Wall Street projection. Meanwhile, average monetization per daily active video user rose to 18 cents from 14 cents in the third quarter of 2018.

“We believe we are still in the early days of the video opportunity. In 2019, we expect to video-enable nearly every aspect of our apps while broadening our suite of video products and attracting new audiences,” said CEO Geoff Cook.

The New Hope, Pennsylvania-based firm also announced that it was acquiring Growlr, a leading same-sex social mobile application for $11.8 million. Growlr boasts of over 200,000 global daily active users.

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Outlook

The Meet Group also gave guidance that was stronger than what the market was expecting. For the first quarter of 2019, the social media firm expects revenue in the range of $47.5 million to $48.0 million. adjusted EBITDA for this period is projected between $7.0 million and $7.5 million

For the full year, revenue is expected to be 210 million to $215 million, while adjusted EBITDA is projected to be $39 million to $42 million.

MEET shares have gained over 85% in the trailing 52 weeks. The stock is up 10% since the beginning of this year.

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