What happened
Shares of Boingo Wireless (WIFI) jumped as much as 28.6% higher on Friday, setting fresh all-time highs in the process, after the company reported quarterly earnings results. As of 2:25 p.m. EDT, the stock was up 26.5%.
So what
The operator of small-cell wireless networks and Wi-Fi systems in airports, malls, and stadiums around the world reported second-quarter results on Thursday night. Net losses per share expanded from $0.19 to $0.20, and analysts were looking for a smaller $0.13 loss per share. But sales rose 25% year over year to land at $49 million, significantly ahead of the Street's $46 million consensus estimate.
Looking ahead, Boingo's management continues to expect substantial net losses in fiscal year 2017 but raised their revenue guidance from $184 million to $195 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
So the stock rose on strong sales trends, and Boingo's favorite non-GAAP profit measure known as adjusted EBITDA also jumped 76% higher to $16.3 million. Boingo's business is humming along especially smoothly in the military and wholesale Wi-Fi markets. The company has found a comfortable market niche and is exploiting it like a champ. To keep the growth trend going, Boingo's order backlog of 11,000 distributed antenna systems will grow the installed base by 54% when completed. And, of course, nothing is stopping Boingo from signing additional contracts along the way.
Share prices have more than doubled in 52 weeks, based more on Boingo's rapid growth performance than on rock-solid financial strength. The stock is expensive today, but arguably for good reason.
