While deciphering the adjustments, compulsory one-off charges, promises, ranges, and hopes, dreams, and unicorn tears is hard, the market saw headline beats in EPS and Revenues and surged GRPN above $12 enabling CNBC to proclaim it a winner before moving on... then someone (or maybe a machine) read the statement... "Groupon expects Adjusted EBITDA for the full year to be slightly above 2013 levels." That's just not gonna cut it when you can spend $19 billion on the hope of exponential growth... and sure enough, GRPN shares collapsed - down over 23% from the after-hours highs.
[5]
Seems like it's time to buy SnapChat for $30 billion!!
You see - "slightly above 2013" is just not good enough - investors crave quadrupling or quintupling of EBITDA guesses...
And here's how the mainstream media is reporting it...
16:05 Business Insider GROUPON SURGES AFTER EARNINGS
16:09 Groupon Revenue Tops Analyst Estimates on Stronger Mobile Sales
16:16 Business Insider: GROUPON SLIDES AFTER EARNINGS
16:22 TechCrunch: Groupon Skyrockets After Hours On Q4 Beat
16:29 24/7 Wall St: Groupon Sails Past Estimates, With Higher Costs Ahead
16:32 Fox News: Groupon Revenue Jumps 20% On Strong Demand