What happened
Shares of Groupon, Inc (GRPN 1.74%) fell by 19.1% in February, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, after the company's fourth-quarter 2017 earnings fell short of analysts' consensus earnings estimate.
So what
Groupon's sales fell by about 4% year over year in the fourth quarter, but the revenue slide was expected, and total sales of $873.2 million in the quarter actually beat the $852.8 million analysts were expecting.
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Net income from continuing operations was $51.1 million in the quarter, up from a net loss of $39.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. But investors weren't happy that Groupon's non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.07 fell short of the $0.09 consensus estimate Wall Street had in mind. The earnings miss sparked a sell-off that began in the middle of February and continued through most of the remainder of the month.
Now what
Investors started to change their opinion of Groupon in March and have pushed the company's share price up about 9% since the beginning of the month. That optimism appears to be fueled by Morgan Stanley analyst Jonathan Lanterman upgrading Groupon's stock from equal weight to underweight. Shares of Groupon have been volatile lately, but the company's 17% gain over the past 12 months match the S&P500's.
