Shares of Kanzhun (BZ 2.50%) soared 18.8% on Tuesday after the Chinese online recruitment platform announced stronger-than-expected quarterly results and a new share repurchase program.
On Kanzhun's blue-collar success
Kanzhun's fourth-quarter 2023 revenue grew 46% year over year to 1,58 billion yuan (or $222.6 million U.S. dollars), translating to non-GAAP (adjusted) net income of 628.6 million yuan (USD $88.5 million USD), or 1.39 yuan (USD $0.20) per American depositary share (ADS). Most analysts, on average, were only expecting earnings of 1.18 yuan per share on revenue closer to 1.54 billion yuan.
Founding Chairman and CEO Mr. Jonathan Peng Zhao credited their outperformance to strong user growth, with particular strength in blue-collar industries, lower-tier cities, and small and medium-sized companies.
Indeed, Kanzhun's calculated cash billings -- a key measure to help determine future growth -- grew 61.2% year over year to 1.78 billion yuan, while average monthly active users (MAUs) rose 33.3% to 41.2 million. Kanzhun's total paid enterprise customers also soared 44.4% to 5.2 million as of the end of 2023.
What's next for Kanzhun investors?
Kanzhun issued guidance for first-quarter 2024 revenue of between 1.64 billion yuan and 1.67 billion yuan, good for continued solid growth of 28.3% to 30.7% year over year.
If that wasn't enough, Kanzhun also announced a new $200 million share repurchase program valid for 12 months starting March 20, 2024. That sum, however large, "only" represents a little over 2% of Kanzhun's roughly $9.2 billion market capitalization as of this writing. But coupled with its exceptional quarterly update today, it's hardly surprising to see Kanzhun shares surging in response.
