Roblox shares surge 20% amid spike in platform's bookings, still down 59% this year
Roblox has seen its shares increase by almost 20% after reporting a positive spike in September bookings. It was the biggest one-day jump the company has experienced in recent months.
Key Roblox metrics for September 2022
- According to the latest Roblox report, the platform had 57.8 million DAU, which is up 23% year-over-year.
- Hours engaged increased by 16% year-over-year to 4 billion.
- Roblox’s estimated bookings were $212-219 million, which is up 11-15% year-over-year.
- Estimated revenue was between $171 million and $180 million, which is down 2% or up 3% year-over-year.
- Roblox cites the strengthening of the US dollar against foreign currencies like the Euro or British Pound as the main reason for the bookings’ growth.
- It is worth noting that despite the year-over-year growth, September bookings fell from $233-237 reported in August.
How did these numbers affect Roblox shares?
- As a result, the company’s stock surged 19.7% on Monday, from $35.58 to $42.61 per share.
- This added $4.2 billion to Roblox’s market capitalization, which is currently around $26.07 billion.
- According to Bloomberg, it was the company’s biggest one-day jump since November 2021, when it surged 42%.
- Despite the growth, Roblox shares are still down 59% this year amid a selloff trend in tech stocks, a general economic slowdown, and the end of the pandemic’s boost when kids used to spend much more time playing on mobile.
- The company’s valuation is also down 66% from November 2021, when it peaked at $77.98 billion.
- However, Roblox is still optimistic about its future. As CEO David Baszucki told CNBC earlier this year, the company has “so many opportunities to increase monetization,” including advertising and 3D immersive shopping.
- Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh thinks that Roblox has the potential to “expand its user base beyond the core 9-13-year-old group faster than larger rival Meta, which saw a decline in user engagement for its Horizon Worlds offering.”
