Shares of advertising technology company Cardlytics (CDLX 2.50%) imploded Thursday morning, falling 32% through 10:15 a.m. ET after reporting what -- in all honesty -- didn't look like much of a miss last night.
Expected to report quarterly sales of $71.7 million in Q1, Cardlytics said it booked only $67.6 million in sales. However, Cardlytics actually beat average earnings estimates, losing only $0.09 per share where Wall Street had forecast an $0.11 loss.
How bad were Cardlytics Q1 earnings?
Now, this is not to say the news was good, exactly. The $0.09 loss that analysts are focusing on today was actually a non-GAAP number. When calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Cardlytics' loss was a much steeper $0.56 per share -- and a reversal from last year's Q1 profit of $0.40 per share.
Still, revenues grew 5% year over year, and billings (which can foreshadow future revenue growth) were up by 10%.
Is Cardlytics stock a sell?
What's curious, however, is that while strong billings growth usually implies strong sales growth (at least over time), Cardlytics' guidance for Q2 was actually not that great. Q2 revenue is now forecast to range from only 6% growth to a 5% decline -- so basically flat at the midpoint, and definitely not up 10%.
About the only good news I see is that Cardlytics forecasts its billings to grow 5% to 15% next quarter, so 10% at the midpoint, just like in Q1. Eventually, you have to expect double-digit billings growth will transform into double-digit sales growth -- and ideally, a bit of profits growth as well.
But the emphasis is on "eventually." For the time being, investors are more focused on the fact that Cardlytics stock is losing money now, and quite a lot of it. They're selling the stock for this reason, and I cannot say I blame them.