Key Takeaways
- Roblox shares plummeted in intraday trading Thursday after its first-quarter results and guidance disappointed.
- Revenue and bookings narrowly missed estimates, with current-quarter and full-year guidance for bookings also below expectations.
- Despite revenue growing substantially year-over-year, Roblox reported a nearly identical net loss to the first quarter of last year.
Shares of Roblox Corp. (RBLX) fell substantially in intraday trading Thursday following the release of the video game company’s first-quarter results.
Revenue Up 22% Year-Over-Year, But Net Loss Remains Nearly Identical
Roblox’s revenue of $801.3 million narrowly missed estimates compiled by Visible Alpha of $806.2 million, but increased 22% from the $655.3 million Roblox reported in the first quarter of 2023.
Average daily active users, a key metric for online games, was 77.7 million for the first quarter, up 17% from the year-ago period.
The company reported another net loss of $270.6 million for the quarter, equal to 43 cents per share, narrower than the $308.4 million analysts had anticipated. The loss was nearly identical to last year’s $268.3 million, or 44 cents per share.
In a letter to shareholders also released Thursday morning, Roblox said that while daily active users and hours engaged were up year-over-year, engagement “exhibited an unseasonal decline” for much of the first quarter, across a variety of regions, ages, and platforms.
Bookings Miss Estimates for Q1, As Well as Q2, Full-Year Projections
Bookings are also a key metric for the company, which it defines as “revenue plus the change in deferred revenue during the period and other non-cash adjustments,” which includes the sale of virtual currency used inside Roblox, plus other subscriptions or one-time purchases like gift cards.
For the first quarter, bookings of $923.8 million grew 19% from 2023’s mark of $773.8 million, but fell just short of the $928.6 million analysts expected.
Roblox estimated bookings between $870 million to $900 million for the second quarter and $4 billion to $4.1 billion for the full year, below analysts’ expectations of $939.1 million and $4.2 billion, respectively.
Shares sank more than 21% to $30.69 as of about 10:45 a.m. ET Thursday.