Snap Inc Posts Q3 Revenue, EPS Beat, Announces Share Buyback, But The Stock Is Plunging For This Reason

Social networking and camera company Snap Inc SNAP reported third-quarter financial results after market close Thursday. Here are the key highlights.

What Happened: One of the companies that was highlighted as an earnings report to watch for the week, Snap reported after the bell Thursday.

Snap reported third quarter revenue of $1.128 billion, up 6% year-over-year. The total came in ahead of a Street estimate of $1.12 billion, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

The company reported earnings per share of 8 cents in the third quarter, beating a Street estimate of a loss of 1 cent per share.

Daily active users were 363 million in the third quarter, up 19% year-over-year. The company said daily active users increased on a sequential and year-over-year basis in each of North America, Europe and Rest of World.

The company reported time spent watching Spotlight content was up 55% year-over-year in the third quarter.

“This quarter we took action to further focus our business on our three strategic priorities: growing our community and deepening their engagement with our products, reaccelerating and diversifying our revenue growth, and investing in augmented reality,” Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said.

Snap ended the third quarter with $4.4 billion in cash.

Related Link: How To Trade Snap Stock Before And After Q3 Earnings Print 

What’s Next: Spiegel said Snap will continue to “navigate this volatile macroeconomic environment” moving forward with its community of 363 million daily active users.

The company is also focused on its subscription service called Snapchat+, which hit 1.5 million paying subscribers in the third quarter.

Snap announced a $500-million buyback Thursday along with its financial results. The shares will be bought through open market transactions or from privately negotiated transactions over the next 12 months.

“The goal of the program is to utilize the company’s strong balance sheet to opportunistically offset a portion of the dilution related to the issuance of restricted stock units to employees as part of the overall compensation program designed to foster and ownership culture,” the company said.

The company said due to the “operating environment” it will not provide guidance on revenue or adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter. Shares are likely trading down due to this news. 

SNAP Price Action: SNAP shares are down 25% to $8.10 in after-hours trading Thursday.

Peer companies like Pinterest PINS and Meta Platforms META are also trading sharply lower Thursday in the after-hours trading session.