Hello Beats Q3 Consensus, Issues Cautious Q4 Outlook

Hello Group Inc MOMO reported a third-quarter FY21 net revenue decline of 0.2% year-on-year to $583.4 million, beating the consensus of $573.6 million.

• Drivers: Monthly Active Users (MAU) on the Momo application rose 1.7% Y/Y to 115.5 million in September 2021.
• Total paying users of its live video service and value-added service declined 6.9% Y/Y to 12.2 million.
• Segments: Live video service revenues declined 8.8% Y/Y to $336.3 million, Total value-added service revenues increased 15.2% Y/Y to $238 million, Mobile marketing declined 14.1% Y/Y to $6.7 million, and Mobile games rose 1% Y/Y to $1.3 million.
• Net revenues from the Momo rose 6.9% Y/Y to $503.8 million, while the Tantan segment revenues decreased 29.9% to $79.3 million.
• Non-GAAP income from operations deteriorated by 13.6% Y/Y to $98.9 million. Non-GAAP net income per ADS of $0.42 beat the consensus of $0.31.
• Hello held $2.4 billion in cash and equivalents and generated $86.9 million in operating cash flow.
• For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, core Momo revenue has achieved year-over-year growth, CEO Li Wang said.
• Outlook: Hello sees Q4 revenue of RMB3.60 billion - RMB3.75 billion, representing a decrease of 5.1% - 1.2% Y/Y.
• Price Action: MOMO shares traded lower by 0.67% at $11.82 in the premarket session on the last check Tuesday.