Although the broader stock market traded flat on Wednesday, numerous titles were outliers in terms of their price movements. Unfortunately for its investors, LegalZoom (LZ -1.52%) was one of them, and not positively. The company's share price tumbled by nearly 24% after it divulged first-quarter results.
A pair of narrow quarterly misses
Those figures were made public after market hours Tuesday, and they revealed that LegalZoom booked slightly more than $174 million in revenue; this was 5% higher on a year-over-year basis. Much of this comprised subscription revenue for the company's suite of legal services. That line item was a shade under $108 million, for growth of 10%.
Non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) adjusted net income also climbed, advancing by a robust 31% to $18.3 million, or $0.09 per diluted share.
On average, analysts following LegalZoom stock were modeling a slightly higher revenue figure of $175.4 million. The company also narrowly missed on the bottom line, as the collective prognosticator estimate for adjusted net income was $0.10 per share.
In the earnings release, chief financial officer Noel Watson was quoted as saying, "Our solid execution enabled us to achieve our revenue expectations despite a weaker-than-expected macro environment."
In-line annual revenue guidance
LegalZoom proffered guidance for both its current (second) quarter, and the entirety of 2024. For the latter period, it's anticipating revenue of $700 million to $720 million. While this compares favorably to the 2023 tally of $660 million, it's only in line with the average analyst estimate of $713.9 million.
Meanwhile, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) should land at $135 million to $145 million. No net income forecasts were provided.
