Chinese Social Media Stock Weibo Climbs On Thursday, What's Going On?

Weibo Corp (NASDAQ: WB) reported a fourth-quarter fiscal 2023 revenue growth of 3% year-on-year to $463.67 million, beating the consensus of $454.97 million. Revenue of the Chinese social network company grew by 5% Y/Y on a CC basis.

Adjusted EPS of $0.31 missed the consensus of $0.50. The stock price climbed after the results.

Weibo’s advertising and marketing revenues climbed 3% Y/Y at $403.7 million. Value-added service (VAS) revenues increased 4% Y/Y to $59.9 million.

Monthly active users (MAUs) increased by 11 million Y/Y to 598 million in December 2023, while Average daily active users (DAUs) rose by 5 million Y/Y to 257 million. Mobile MAUs represented 95% of MAUs.

The adjusted operating margin declined by 300 bps to 31% as profits declined by 4.0% Y/Y. 

Weibo held $3.2 billion in cash and equivalents as of December 31, 2023, and generated $218.2 million in operating cash flow during the quarter.

Special Dividend: On March 14, 2024, the company’s board approved a special cash dividend of $0.82 per ordinary share and ADS.

The first-quarter consensus revenue and EPS are $424.63 million and $0.47. 

Investors can gain exposure to Weibo via KraneShares Trust KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF KWEB and Fidelity Metaverse ETF FMET.

Price Action: WB shares traded higher by 5.77% at $10.25 premarket on the last check Thursday.

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