UPDATED 23:47 EDT / MAY 01 2018

APPS

Snap numbers decline as the millennial love affair nears its end

Despite delivering a surprisingly strong fourth quarter, Snapchat app maker Snap Inc. failed to make it two in a row in the first quarter of 2018, reporting mostly declining numbers across the board.

In the only positive on its spreadsheet, Snap booked $230 million in revenue for the quarter ending March 31, up 58 percent from the same period in 2017. But it also reported a loss before certain costs of $217.8 million, up from $188 million a year ago. The net loss came in at $385.8 million, way over analysts’ average prediction of $204.7 million.

As a result, Snap’s shares plummeted in after-hours trading by more than 14 percent.

The upshot seems to be that millennial love affair with Snapchat appears to be coming to an end. Snap said user growth in the quarter declined to 2 percent, its lowest quarterly figure ever, with daily active users coming in at 191 million, up from 187 million in the fourth quarter.

“Snap delivered a massive miss across the board which will further ignite fears that this company has major challenges ahead with its app redesign and business model in limbo,” analyst Daniel Ives said in a note to investors reported by CNet. “The confluence of the app redesign and backlash from core power users was a gut punch to Snap during the quarter, with signs more speed bumps could be on the horizon.”

Others weren’t quite as negative. While noting that Snap was overvalued, Brian Wieser, senior research analyst at Pivotal Research Group, said that “overall, none of these figures cause us to alter our longer-term view by much. We saw and continue to see Snap as a niche platform with a reasonably dedicated user base and a relatively novel advertising environment.”

Image: Pixabay

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