Roblox earnings bring a big bookings milestone, sending the stock rocketing

By Emily Bary

Roblox tops $1 billion in quarterly bookings for the first time

Roblox Inc. shares tend to swing big after earnings and Wednesday's results could bring a continuation of that trend.

Shares of Roblox (RBLX) were rising 12% in premarket action after the gaming company set a milestone with its bookings figure and issued an upbeat outlook on the metric for the year ahead.

The company generated fourth-quarter revenue of $749.9 million, up from $579.0 million a year before. Roblox also reported bookings of $1.13 billion, up from $899 million a year before and ahead of the FactSet consensus view, which was for $1.08 billion.

Bookings is a highly watched metric for Roblox investors because it captures sales of the company's virtual currency. Management said the bookings growth rate for the quarter was its highest in two years as Roblox cleared the billion-dollar mark for the first time.

Roblox also gave upbeat guidance on the metric, calling for $910 million to $940 million in bookings during the first quarter, as well as $4.14 billion to $4.28 billion in bookings for the full year. Analysts were looking for $902 million and $4.10 billion, respectively.

For the latest quarter, Roblox logged a net loss of $323.7 million, or 52 cents a share, whereas it lost $289.9 million, or 48 cents a share, in the year-prior quarter. Analysts were modeling a 55-cent per-share loss.

"We enter 2024 with even more conviction of being able to achieve our long-term goal of attracting over 1 billion daily active users with optimism and civility," Chief Executive David Baszucki said in a release. "We continue to benefit from the strong network effects in content, social connection, and communication, as well as our investments in immersive experiences, advertising, and AI."

-Emily Bary

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02-07-24 0900ET

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