Roblox shares rocket on earnings boost, strong forecast

Roblox Shares jumped as much as 20% in extended trading Thursday after the company reported results that beat consensus estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Here’s how the gaming company fared compared to estimates from analysts surveyed by LSEG:

• Loss per share: 45 cents vs. 48 cents expected by analysts
• Booking: $2.22 billion versus $2.05 billion expected by analysts

The company said it expects first-quarter bookings to come in between $1.69 billion and $1.74 billion, beating Wall Street expectations of $1.68 billion.

Roblox’s fourth-quarter bookings jumped 63% from a year ago, while the company reported a net loss of $316 million for the quarter, up nearly 44% from $220 million last year.

The company reported 144 million average DAUs in the fourth quarter, up 69% year-over-year. Analysts expected 138 million DAUs.

Roblox announced in a letter to shareholders that it does not plan to issue annual guidance starting in 2027 due to “inherent variability” in the company’s business. Instead, Roblox said it will focus on providing quarterly guidance.

Roblox has faced criticism for endangering underage users, with several lawsuits on behalf of children. sexual abuse on gaming platforms.

The company said it introduced mandatory age verification for users accessing communications features in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands in the second half of the fourth quarter. Roblox said 60% of daily users in that market were age-verified while 45% of global daily users did so.

Roblox said the age-check rollout, which was completed globally in January, “led to mid-single-digit headwind engagement growth and low-single-digit headwind booking growth.” But the company added that “strategic volatility is significant.”

“Precise age data opens up long-term opportunities to build features and content, enhancing security and civility, driving organic engagement growth,” the company wrote.

Roblox said an age check found its user base to be younger than self-reported data indicated. Among daily users, 38% are between the ages of 13 and 17, 35% are under 13, and 27% are over 18.

The company said it sees its scale with younger users as a “valuable strategic asset”.

See: News of a Google AI gaming tool sent gaming stocks tumbling