Groupon Loss Narrows; Outlook Weak

(RTTNews) - Daily deals site Groupon Inc (GRPN) said Tuesday after the markets closed that its first quarter loss narrowed from last year, as revenue increased and operating expenses fell.

The company's quarterly earnings per share, excluding item, also came in above analysts' expectations, but its quarterly revenue fell short of analysts' forecast. At the same time, the company gave a downbeat outlook for the current quarter. The company also forecasts full year revenue below analysts' current consensus estimate.

"Q1 was a strong quarter, despite significant headwinds from foreign exchange rates, as we delivered 58% year-over-year growth in Adjusted EBITDA," said Eric Lefkofsky, CEO of Groupon. "Our North America business saw its third-straight quarter of double digit billings increases in all three categories, and we made continued progress in our mission to connect local commerce through our predominantly mobile marketplace."

Groupon shares are currently losing 2.19% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $6.84, down 20 cents or 2.84%. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $5.18 to $8.43.

Groupon last month announced the sale of a controlling stake in Ticket Monster, its South Korean e-commerce business, for $360 million, to a partnership formed by KKR and Hong-Kong-based Anchor Equity Partners. Groupon will ultimately retain a 41% stake in Ticket Monster, upon vesting of management's interest. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter 2015.

Groupon informs consumers about deals of the day through emails. Having faced stiff competition, the company is transforming itself into a broader e-commerce player.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2015, the Chicago, Illinois-based company reported a net loss pf $14.3 million or $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss of $37.8 million or $0.06 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Loss from continuing operations for the first quarter was $0.03 per share, compared to loss from continuing operations of $0.04 per share in the prior year quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net earnings for the latest quarter was $21.3 million or $0.03 per share.

On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.01 per share for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the first quarter rose 3% to $750.26 million from $728.42 million in the same quarter last year. Thirteen analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $812.19 million for the first quarter.

Active customers, or customers that have purchased a voucher or product within the last twelve months, grew 7% year-over-year, to 48.1 million as of March 31, 2015, but down from 53.9 million at December 31, 2014.

Gross billings, which reflect the total dollar value of customer purchases of goods and services, increased 2.1% to $1.55 billion in the first quarter, with North America billings up 14.4%.

Looking forward to the second quarter, the company forecasts revenue of $700 million to $750 million and adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $0.01 to $0.03 per share. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.03 per share on revenue of $826.70 million for the second quarter.

For the full year 2015, the company forecasts revenue of $3.15 billion to $3.3 billion. Analysts currently expect the company to post revenue of $3.51 billion for the full year 2015.