Shares of Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) initially plunged over 10% in post-market trading after the company reported worse-than-expected Q1 bookings. However, shares have recovered since to trade at 0.5% in the green as of 06:50 EST.
Revenue came in at $537.1 million, up 39% YoY, but much lower than the $657.4 million consensus. Loss per share stood at 27c, compared to a loss per share of 46c in the same period last year and worse than the Street consensus of negative 20c.
Roblox reported $631.2 million in bookings, down 3.2% YoY and below the consensus estimates of $633.3 million. The number of daily active users in the period totaled 54.1 million, up 29% YoY and in line with the analyst expectations. The company reported 11.8 billion hours engaged, up 22% YoY.
RBLX reported 53.1 million daily active users in April and 3.8 billion hours engaged.
“We remained focused on delivering our innovation roadmap to unlock the full potential of the Roblox platform and drive long-term returns for investors,” said CEO David Baszucki. “Over the past two quarters, we have launched a number of notable innovations including spatial voice and layered clothing that will continue driving user growth, engagement and monetization.”
KeyBanc analyst Tyler Parker commented:
“With the near-term focus of the market, we see a need for Roblox to “prove it” with a return to growth in the coming months in order to shift sentiment in the right direction. We do think there's potential this is an improvement story into the back half, but April's trends don't yet inspire confidence.”
Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan added:
“We expect that investors will be focused on the narrow messaging of how to think about April 2022 booking and DAU trends as an indicator of when the platform moves thru Q2 2022 and into easier growth comparisons. In terms of the earnings call, we expect key debates will be about Roblox’s investment in trust/safety, developer tools and forward platform elements to drive engagement, discovery and monetization.”
By Senad Karaahmetovic