Travel-platform company TripAdvisor (TRIP 0.34%) provided shareholders with an update for the second quarter of 2020, and the numbers are ugly. Not that anyone expected it to be pretty. TripAdvisor used to have a robust active-user community. But with travel restrictions around the world from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's no surprise people are less actively researching their next getaway right now.
In April, monthly unique users on TripAdvisor were down 67% year over year. Monthly unique users for May were down 55% from last year, with June showing a slight month-over-month improvement.
Image source: Getty Images.
Plummeting revenue and profits
TripAdvisor had over 400 million active users in the second quarter of 2019. The majority of its revenue and profit comes from click-based advertising in its hotels, media, and platform segment. But with fewer people perusing the platform, there have been far fewer clicks.
Combined, April and May revenue was only 10% of what it was in 2019. June 2020 revenue is only 20% of June 2019. Because of this, TripAdvisor is forecasting an adjusted EBITDA loss of $85 million for Q2. The company still had $693 million in cash and equivalents as of the end of May. But that's down a whopping $105 million just since the end of March.
These numbers are just TripAdvisor's unofficial estimates. Things could still improve since Q2 doesn't end until June 30, but the end result is unlikely to change much. The final numbers will be reported in August. But considering how much TripAdvisor's business is challenged by the coronavirus, there are probably safer stocks for investors right now.
