© Reuters Roblox (RBLX) stock surges 16% as bookings, profit beat expectations
By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Roblox (NYSE:) are trading more than 16% in pre-market Wednesday after the company delivered better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.
Roblox a loss per share of $0.48 on revenue of $579 million. Analysts were expecting a loss per share of $0.51 on revenue of $615.5M. However, bookings – which typically refers to the value of contracts signed with customers – came in at $899.4M, beating the analyst expectations of $876.2M.
Roblox also reported $183M in adjusted EBITDA, crushing the average analyst estimate of $97.4M.
“Bookings accelerated meaningfully in December and January, with year over year growth exceeding 20% in both months. Growth was strong across all geographies and age groups with particular strength among users above 17 years old,” said Michael Guthrie, Chief Financial Officer of Roblox.
“As bookings re-accelerated late in 2022, we saw immediate improvements in adjusted EBITDA margins. For the full year, we were able to make important investments in infrastructure and trust and safety largely out of cash flow from operations.”
The number of daily active users (DAUs) came in at 58.8M, up 19% year-over-year. The average bookings per DAU (ABPDAU) was $15.29, down 2% YoY.
Roblox also disclosed how the business performed in January. Estimated revenue was up 22-24% YoY to $213-216M. Estimated bookings increased 19-21% to $267-271M. Average DAUs were 65M, representing an increase of 19% YoY.
“2022 was a year of innovation and invention for Roblox,” said David Baszucki, Founder and CEO of Roblox. “With 65 million daily active users in January, we are driving towards our vision to reimagine the way people come together by enabling deeper forms of expression, communication and immersion.”
The company also announced that it will cease publishing monthly metrics.
Roblox stock was already up 25% year-to-date heading into earnings.
