A man photographs a Roblox banner displayed, to celebrate the company’s IPO, on the front facade of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, March 10, 2021.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Shares of Roblox popped 24% Wednesday after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ expectations on top and bottom lines.
Here’s how the company did:
Loss per share: 48 cent loss vs. 52 cent loss per share expected, according to a Refinitiv survey of analysts
Revenue (bookings): $899.4 million vs. $881.4 million expected, according to Refinitiv
The revenue figure is what Roblox calls bookings, which include sales recognized during the quarter and deferred revenue. Bookings rose by 17% year over year. The company generates revenue from sales of its virtual currency called Robux, which players use to dress up their avatars and buy other premium features in the games.
Roblox reported 58.8 million average daily active users, up 19% from a year earlier. Users spent more than 12.8 billion hours engaged in Roblox during the fourth quarter, up 18% year over year.
The company said average bookings per daily active user was $15.29, down 2% year over year.
Roblox saw bookings swell more than 200% during the pandemic when kids were spending more time on their screens while stuck at home. The stock was blazing hot in 2021, after Roblox’s direct listing in March. Its market cap neared $80 billion before peaking in November 2021.
