What happened
Shares of Boingo Wireless (WIFI) fell 20.1% in November, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The provider of wireless networking hotspots in airports, hotels, and other public places reported solid third-quarter results early in the month, but with a side of mixed next-quarter guidance. The stock dropped 19% that day.
So what
Boingo reported a net loss of $0.01 per share in the third quarter, an improvement from a $0.15 loss per share in the year-ago period and ahead of Wall Street's consensus target of -$0.09 per share. Revenue rose 22% to $65.3 million, beating your average analyst's estimate of $63.3 million.
Looking ahead, Boingo's management guided for full-year losses of roughly $0.18 per share, which works out to a fourth-quarter profit of about $0.04 per share. The analyst consensus called for break-even Q4 results. Finally, hitting the full-year revenue target will require something like $63.4 million in fourth-quarter sales. Here, the consensus called for $65.9 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
So Boingo's investors focused on the weak year-end revenue goals while ignoring a stronger bottom-line target -- as well as pretty decent actual results. That's life sometimes for companies that run on negative yearly earnings and rich price-to-sales ratios.
The stock has now plunged 31% lower over the last three months and traded sideways in 2018 as a whole. Raucous revenue growth plus stalled stock charts often add up to decent buy-in opportunities.
