Published February 15, 2017
Groupon shares jumped more than 20 percent on strong revenue after the company reported earnings for the first time since announcing its acquisition of Living Social in October.
The number of customers in North America rose by 2 percent, half of those coming from Living Social. The Chicago company's billings rose 11 percent compared with the same period last year.
Overall revenue at the online daily deal service was $935 million in the fourth quarter, easily beating Wall Street expectations of $911 million. The company had revenue of $917 million in the same period a year ago.
For the year, the company said it added 5.2 million North American customers, its best performance in four years.
Groupon expects gross profit for 2017 to be between $1.30 billion and $1.35 billion — an increase of $40 to $90 million from 2016 — as it implements its exit from 11 countries abroad.
On a per-share basis, the company had a loss of 9 cents, but adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 7 cents per share, beating Wall Street expectations by a nickel, according to Zacks Investment Research.
The company reported a loss of $52.6 million in its fourth quarter, which it said were driven by non-operating losses, primarily its investment in Ticket Monster.
For the year, the company reported a loss of $194.6 million, or 34 cents per share, swinging to a loss in the period. Revenue was reported as $3.14 billion, close to last year's $3.12 billion.
The company's shares rose 22 percent, or 85 cents, to $4.63 in midday trading.
Groupon shares had been trading above $5 last fall before sinking about 20 percent on the Living Social acquisition announcement and its third-quarter earnings report.
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This story was generated in part by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on GRPN at https://www.zacks.com/ap/GRPN
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Keywords: Groupon, Earnings Report
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