Quora's Chinese Rival Zhihu Stock Slides After Mixed Q3 Results - Here's Why

Zinger Key Points
  • Zhihu reports 12.1% revenue growth in Q3, adjusted loss per ADS narrower than expected
  • Marketing revenue declines, while paid membership and vocational training see significant growth

Zhihu Inc ZH reported third-quarter FY23 revenue growth of 12.1% year-on-year to $140.1 million, missing the consensus of $143.6 million. The results sent the stock price down.

Adjusted loss per ADS was $(0.05), beating the consensus loss of $(0.06)

Segments: Zhihu's Marketing services revenue decreased 17.1% Y/Y to $52.5 million. Paid membership revenue expanded 39.2% Y/Y to $64 million. 

Vocational training revenue rose 85.6% Y/Y to $19.8 million. 

Drivers: Average monthly active users (MAUs) grew to 110.5 million versus 97.0 million Y/Y. Average monthly paying members rose 35.9% Y/Y to 14.8 million.

Margin: The gross margin contracted by 500 bps to 53.7% is primarily attributable to its enhanced monetization efforts and improved cloud services and bandwidth utilization efficiency.

Zhihu held $775 million in cash and equivalents.

"Our total revenues for the quarter continued their year-over-year growth momentum, fueled by accelerated development in paid memberships and our vocational training business," said Mr. Yuan Zhou, chairman and CEO of Zhihu.

The Q4 consensus revenue and EPS are $168.6 million and $(0.03). The stock has lost 26.4% year-to-date.

Price Action: ZH shares traded lower by 1% at $1.01 on the last check Wednesday.

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