Bumble’s Q4 Beat and Outlook Has Investors Buzzing

Bumble Inc (NASDAQ:BMBL) shares jumped more than 10% in Thursday’s premarket trading as the company’s beat expectations for the December quarter earnings, its first report since going public last month. To add to the euphoria, its earnings forecast for the ongoing quarter and this year surpassed most expectations.

Bumble is the owner of the dating app of the same name that allows women to make the first move. The shares still traded up 8% after the U.S. market open.

In the fourth quarter, revenue rose 31%, to $165.6 million, beating Bloomberg’s average analyst estimate of $163.3 million. Total paying users increased 32%, to 2.7 million, with an average revenue per user of $20.02, nearly unchanged from last year.

On the bottom line, Bumble reported a net loss of $26.1 million compared with earnings of $17.2 million a year earlier.

The Austin-based company forecast revenue between $163 million and $165 million in the current period. Wall Street was forecasting $163 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. For the whole year, Bumble sees sales of $716 million to $726 million, which Bloomberg said is ahead of expectations.

India, Mexico, and Germany are markets where use of the Bumble app is growing, Bloomberg quoted its CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd as saying. Herd, at 31, was the youngest woman to take a large company public in the U.S. as CEO.