Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
This might be the ultimate reopening play: a bet on the return of dating.
shares (ticker: MTCH) are trading higher Wednesday after the parent of Tinder and other online dating websites posted better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
Match shares were up 5.3%, at $146.30, in recent trading. The
was up 0.5%.
For the quarter, Match posted revenue of $668 million, up 23% and ahead of the Wall Street analyst consensus forecast of $650.7 million. Profits were 57 cents a share, nicely ahead of the Street consensus estimate at 40 cents. Adjusted Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) was $230 million, up 32%.
The company said paying subscribers were up 11.2%, to 11.1 million, while average revenue per user was up 9%. It reported 18% growth in revenue at Tinder, and 30% growth in the rest of its businesses.
For the second quarter, Match is projecting revenue of $680 million to $690 million, ahead of the old consensus at $678.8 million, with adjusted Ebitda jumping to a range of $255 million to $260 million.
Match added it is “increasingly confident” it will reach the high end of its previously provided full-year 2021 projection for revenue and adjusted Ebitda growth in the mid- to high teens. “As we head into summer, with a growing number of people getting vaccinated, we cannot help but be excited about the future,” the company said in a letter to holders.
J.P. Morgan analyst Cory Carpenter writes in a research note that Match reported an “unexpected beat and raise,” pointing in particular to the reacceleration of growth at Tinder and its 18% growth rate, up from 13% in the fourth quarter. He notes that Tinder net adds jumped to 195,000 in the quarter from 135,000 in the December quarter—“much better than we had expected.”
Carpenter repeats his Overweight rating and $175 target on Match shares.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com
