Match Group (MTCH) — the conglomerate behind dating apps Tinder, Hinge, and Match.com — blew past its fourth-quarter earnings estimates, boasting adjusted EPS gains of $0.81 against estimates of $0.53.
Yahoo Finance Reporter Alexandra Canal breaks down Match's earnings results and its plans for margin guidance in the first-quarter of 2024.
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Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.
Video Transcript
ALEXANDRA CANAL: We received a bit of a mixed bag for earnings when it comes to Match Group. Last I checked the stock was trading relatively flat. So it's likely that we'll see some movement there on the call. But I want to start with the negative side. Total revenue per payer, otherwise known as RPP, that missed expectations in the quarter, coming in at $8.67. Although that is up 17% year over year, the estimate there was for $18.98.
Another metric that we could possibly see weigh on shares is that further decline in paying users for Tinder. That fell 8% year over year in the quarter, while we saw hinge on the other hand see users increase 33%. Keeping up with that positive news, we did see a beat on both revenue and earnings with adjusted operating income also coming in higher. We've recently seen Match Group implement price hikes, which did help lift operating margins in the quarter to 42%.
Moving on to guidance, for the full year the company expects margins to come in at 36% which is higher than that estimate of 25.5%. And then if we want to take a look at some other numbers that the company is forecasting, Match Group does expect revenue for the current quarter to come in between 850 to 860 million, with adjusted operating income between 270 and 275 million.
But again, we'll see what management has to say on the earnings call when it comes to that Tinder miss on subscribers, as well as that overall miss on revenue per user. I think a big question is whether or not these price hikes will have any influence on subscribers moving forward. But Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so perhaps Q1, that's the time that people will get swiping.
