Why Snap Shares Skyrocketed Today

What happened

Shares of Snap (NYSE: SNAP) have skyrocketed today, up by 40% as of 12 p.m. EST, after the company reported strong fourth-quarter earnings. The Snapchat operator was able to put up solid daily active user (DAU) growth that impressed investors.

So what

Revenue in the fourth quarter jumped 72% to $285.7 million, which translated into a non-GAAP net loss of $0.13 per share. Both top- and bottom-line results beat the consensus estimates, which called for $252.9 million in sales and an adjusted net loss of $0.16 per share. Snapchat now has 187 million DAUs, a sequential increase of 8.9 million from last quarter and also ahead of expectations.

Snapchat logo
Snapchat logo

Image source: Snap.

The company is in the process of rolling out a major redesign, which CEO Evan Spiegel says will become available for all users in the first quarter.

Now what

Snap also continues to make progress with its transition to automated ad auctions, noting that over 90% of all ads purchased during the quarter were bought programmatically. Ad impressions jumped over four times while price per impression fell 25%. Monetization also posted a significant jump on a sequential basis, with global average revenue per user (ARPU) rising from $1.17 in the third quarter to $1.53 in the fourth quarter.

The company does not provide detailed financial guidance.

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Evan Niu, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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