24/7 Wall St.

When Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) released its most recent quarterly results before the markets opened on Wednesday, the company said that it had $0.03 in earnings per share (EPS) on $626.5 million in revenue.

Consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for breakeven earnings on $603.79 million in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.01 and $673.63 million in revenue.

In terms of its segments the company reported as follows:

• North America gross profit in the first quarter 2018 decreased 1% to $219.7 million. In Local, gross profit decreased 2% to $166.8 million. Goods gross profit increased 1% to $36.9 million resulting from our continued focus on optimizing for gross profit. Gross profit in Travel increased 6% to $16.0 million. North America active customers were 32.6 million at the end of the quarter, and trailing twelve month gross profit per active customer increased 1%.
• International gross profit increased 19% (5% FX-neutral) in the first quarter 2018 to $105.2 million. Gross profit increased 19% (5% FX-neutral) in Local, 26% (10% FX-neutral) in Goods, and 6% (7% FX-neutral decline) in Travel. International active customers increased to 17.0 million at the end of the quarter, and trailing twelve month gross profit per active customer increased 9%.

Looking ahead to the 2018 full year, Groupon expects to see adjusted EBITDA between $280 million and $290 million, an increase from the previous range of $260 million to $270 million. The consensus estimates call for $0.19 in EPS on $2.64 billion in revenue for the year.

On the books, Groupon’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $725.9 million at the end of the quarter, down from $880.1 million at the end of the previous fiscal year.

CEO Rich Williams commented:

We’re off to a solid start in 2018, highlighted by strong bottom line growth and continued execution against our strategy and key priorities. More than a million new customers enrolled in our voucherless Groupon+ program during the quarter and are beginning to experience the next generation of Groupon. In addition, we signed a number of new partnerships that connect more high quality local offers with our customer scale and solidify our position as a true platform in local. We’re also excited about the strong momentum in our international business, thanks to significant progress on our product, supply and marketing initiatives.

Shares of Groupon were last seen up about 6% at $5.15 on Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $5.32 and a 52-week range of $2.90 to $5.99.

24/7 Wall St.
Jefferies Says Buy the Pullback in Steel Stocks Now