Momo misses Q3 earnings estimates but revenues come in line

Momo Inc. (MOMO) missed market expectations on earnings for the third quarter of 2018 while revenues came in line with estimates. The stock plunged 12.9% during premarket hours on Thursday.

Net revenues grew 51% to $536 million from the same period a year ago. Net income attributable to Momo Inc. grew to $85.2 million from $79.1 million last year. Adjusted net income rose 22% to $114.3 million.

Diluted earnings per American Depositary Share (ADS) was $0.39 versus $0.38 last year. Adjusted earnings per ADS grew to $0.53 from $0.45 in the prior-year period.

Monthly active users on Momo application increased to 110.5 million in September 2018 from 94.4 million in the same period last year. Total paying users of live video service and value-added service grew to 12.5 million in the third quarter from 7.3 million in the prior-year period.

Will Momo become next Alibaba?

Live video service revenues grew 34% to $406.9 million from last year, helped by increases in quarterly paying users and average revenues per paying user per quarter. Value-added service revenues grew 221% to $84.2 million, mainly due to the growth of the virtual gift business on the Momo application and the consolidation of Tantan’s membership subscription revenues.

Mobile games revenues dropped 49% year-over-year to $4.1 million, hurt mainly by a decline in quarterly paying users. Mobile marketing revenues fell 1% to $17.2 million from last year.

For the fourth quarter of 2018, Momo expects total net revenues to be between 3.65 billion yuan to 3.75 billion yuan, reflecting a growth of 43-47% year-over-year. Excluding revenues from Phanta City, total revenues are expected to grow 42-46% year-over-year to 3.62 billion yuan to 3.72 billion yuan. The company is not providing the outlook in US dollar terms due to the recent volatility and uncertainty in foreign exchange rate.

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