Roblox (RBLX +1.15%) stock was up by an impressive 13.9% as of 12:30 p.m. ET Wednesday after reporting a third-quarter beat (of sorts) before the opening bell.
Analysts had forecast that the gaming platform company would record $829.5 million in "bookings" (a proxy for future revenues) in Q3, but it actually reported bookings of $839.5 million. Revenues for the quarter (which are recognized after "bookings" of its in-game currency, Robux, are actually spent by gamers) were $713.2 million.
Roblox also reported a $0.45 per share loss for the quarter. That might not sound great, but it did beat Wall Street's expectations for a $0.51 per share loss.
NYSE: RBLX
Key Data Points
Roblox sales and earnings
Bookings at Roblox -- which are basically sales of the Robux virtual currency for future use -- are believed to foreshadow revenue at Roblox, and this proved to be the case in Q3. While actual revenue in the quarter was significantly lower than bookings, revenue did climb 38% year over year -- nearly twice as fast as bookings growth.
On the other hand, though, if bookings foreshadow revenue, then the 20% growth in bookings does seem to suggest that revenue growth ahead won't maintain Q3's 38% pace. It's also perhaps noteworthy that bookings in the quarter grew only as fast as both average daily active users (DAUs) and hours of user engagement on the platform -- both of which were up 20%.
More encouraging, though, is that the number of monthly unique payers grew by only 15%. The fact that bookings, DAUs, and hours of engagement grew faster than that implies that new users are using Roblox more often -- and giving the company relatively more money -- which may be encouraging investors.
Is Roblox stock a buy?
All this being said, the fact remains that Roblox remained deeply unprofitable in Q3. Its bottom-line loss shrank by only 10% despite the surge in revenue, and Roblox ended the quarter with a $0.45 per share loss.
The good news is that despite that loss, Roblox generated $59.5 million in free cash flow for the quarter, which left the company free-cash-flow positive to the tune of $59.4 million year to date. The bad news is that from a valuation perspective, Roblox stock still trades for an exorbitant 322 times annual free cash flow -- even assuming it grows its cash production at its current pace through the year's end.
A growth stock Roblox may be. A value stock it most certainly is not.
