Website creator Wix.com sees strong sales in 2023 after Q4 profit

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Wix.com, which helps small businesses build and operate websites, said on Wednesday it swung to a profit in the fourth quarter and forecast 9-11% growth in revenue in 2023.

The Israeli company said it earned 61 cents per share excluding one-time items, compared with a loss of 34 cents per share a year earlier. Revenue grew 6% to $355 million and was up 9% to $1.4 million in all of 2022.

Wix was forecast to earn 9 cents a share ex-one off items on revenue of $352 million, according to data from Refinitiv.

"While internet growth is currently reverting back to the pre-pandemic trendline, we believe there are still many years of significant expansion ahead," said CEO Avishai Abrahami.

Wix said it was implementing further cost saving measures, and expected total savings of $200 million in 2023 and $215 million of annualized savings.

"Our focus in 2023 will continue to be on driving cost efficiencies across the business," it said.

For the first quarter, Wix estimated revenue of $367-$371 million, reflecting roughly 7-9% year-on-year growth, "assuming no deterioration in the macro environment." For all of 2023 it expects revenue of $1.51-$1.535 billion.

Analysts are projecting first-quarter revenue of $366 million and full year revenue of $1.511 billion.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Steven Scheer)