Groupon Q1 Loss Widens - Update

(RTTNews) - Daily deals site Groupon Inc. (GRPN) on Thursday reported a loss for the first quarter that widened from a year ago, hurt largely by lower revenues. Nevertheless, loss for the quarter were lower than what Wall Street expected, revenues also trumped estimates.

Chicago, Illinois-based Groupon's first-quarter loss of $49.1 million or $0.08 per share, wider than last year's loss of $14.3 million or $0.02 per share.

Adjusted loss was $4.6 million, or $0.01 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expected a loss of $0.02 per share.

Revenues for the quarter dropped 2.5 percent to $732.0 million from $750.4 million last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $718.36 million for the quarter.

Groupon informs consumers about deals of the day through emails. But having faced stiff competition, the company is transforming itself into a broader e-commerce player from a company that only sells deals and coupons.

Gross billings, which reflect the total dollar value of customer purchases of goods and services, dropped 5.2 percent to $1.47 billion, with North America billings up 4.8 percent, EMEA down 14.6 percent and rest of the world down 28.2 percent.

Global units, representing vouchers and products sold before cancellations and refunds, declined 3 percent from the prior-year period to 52 million.

Moving ahead, Groupon continues to expect revenue of between $2.75 and $3.05 billion for the full year. Analysts currently estimate revenues of $3.01 billion.

GRPN closed Thursday's trading at $4.43, down $0.18 or 3.90%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further dropped $0.05 or 1.13% in the after-hours trade.