What happened
Shares of virtual healthcare company Teladoc (TDOC -1.49%) were hit hard on Thursday, falling as much as 10.1%. As of 2:51 p.m. EST, the stock was down 8.6%.
The stock's pullback follows the company's fourth-quarter earnings release. Though the update included better-than-expected revenue and a narrower-than-anticipated loss per share, management's first-quarter guidance may have spooked some investors.
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So what
Teladoc's fourth-quarter revenue jumped 59% year over year to $122.7 million. Meanwhile, the company's loss per share narrowed from $0.76 in the fourth quarter of 2017 to a loss of $0.35.
"We had an exceptional 2018 with solid performance across all of our key financial and operational metrics," said Teladoc CEO Jason Gorevic in the company's fourth-quarter earnings release.
Analysts, on average, were expecting fourth-quarter revenue of $120 million and a fourth-quarter loss per share of $0.36.
The company's guidance for first-quarter revenue of $126 million to $129 million and a first-quarter net loss per share of $0.44 to $0.46, however, was below consensus analyst estimates for the two metrics. On average, analysts were expecting first-quarter revenue of $131 million and a net loss per share of $0.31.
Check out the latest Teladoc earnings call transcript.
Now what
In Teladoc's fourth-quarter earnings call, Gorevic addressed the company's guidance. He said continued diversification of its business is resulting in less concentration of customer start dates toward the beginning of the year. In addition, the CEO said this year's flu season is more moderate than in the year-ago quarter (resulting in fewer visits).
