Snap Stock Plummets on Revenue Miss, Weak Guidance

Shares of Snap (SNAP) plunged nearly 25% in early trading Friday after the social media company missed revenue estimates for the second quarter and offered lower-than-expected guidance, citing a weaker advertising environment. 

The operator of the Snapchat photo and video-sharing site reported second-quarter revenue rose 15.8% year-over-year to $1.24 billion, short of analysts’ projections. Average revenue per user of $2.86 was also below forecasts. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at 2 cents, roughly in line with expectations.

Weak Demand Weighs on Snap’s Results

CEO Evan Spiegel said monthly active users (MAU) climbed to more than 850 million, and that the Snapchat+ premium subscription service had more than 11 million.

However, brand-oriented advertising revenue declined 1% year-over-year, “driven by particularly weak demand from certain consumer discretionary verticals including retail, technology, and entertainment, as well as the timing impact of holidays shifting out of Q2 in the current year.”

The company said it was focused on “executing against our roadmap to deliver improvements to our advertising platform to drive strong performance for our advertising partners,” and that it was “prioritizing our investments carefully to deliver against the cost plans we have set out for our business.”

Snap said it anticipates current-quarter revenue in the range of $1.35 billion to $1.38 billion, below analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Snap shares were down 24.4% at $9.68 as of 11 a.m. ET Friday following the news and have lost more than 40% of their value so far this year.