AUSTIN: RetailMeNot Inc. shares fell Tuesday after the online coupon site reported a revenue decline and swung to a small loss as its number of web visitors from mobile phones declined for the first time ever.
Shares declined 9.8% to $7.67 in afternoon trading.
The number of mobile web visits fell 1% to 69.9 million, the first such decline since the company began detailing mobile visits as a separate category.
Austin, Texas-based RetailMeNot, which went public in 2013, aggregates retailers’ digital coupons, posts them to its website and smartphone application, and then collects commissions from retailers based on purchases.
RetailMeNot said the amount of revenue from mobile online transactions increased 7% in the quarter from a year earlier, making up 11% of total revenue. This was a slower pace than the double-digit increases seen in recent quarters.
Chief Financial Officer J. Scott Di Valerio said the company needs to rely less on search engines for its traffic and wants to encourage the use of its mobile apps in order to “control our own destiny.”
He also said the company was working to expand its in-store coupon offerings.
As more consumers use their smartphones for browsing and online purchases, some companies that have focused on desktop users have struggled to transition to smaller screens.
In April, RetailMeNot acquired GiftCard Zen Inc., a gift-card trading marketplace, for $22 million in cash and up to $11 million if certain targets are reached. Mr. Di Valerio said RetailMeNot hoped to sell more gift cards directly to consumers. Currently the site primarily does business with bulk buyers and sellers.
Desktop online transaction revenue—which includes tablets and represents the bulk of the company’s top line—declined 19%. Total visits to the site were down 10% in the quarter, with desktop visits declining 15%.
For the quarter, RetailMeNot reported a loss of $36,000, or zero cents a share, compared with a profit of $4.1 million, or 7 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, the company reported adjusted per-share earnings of 13 cents, down from 20 cents a year ago.
Revenue declined 9.5% to $54.6 million. The company had previously forecast revenue in the range of $49 million to $54.0 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, had expected per-share earnings of 11 cents on revenue of $54 million.
For the current quarter, the company said it expects consolidated net revenue in the range of $58.5 million to $64.5 million, which would represent growth of 16% at the midpoint of the range. Analysts had expected $51 million.
For the year, RetailMeNot said it anticipates revenue between $271 million $290 million, or growth of 13% at the midpoint, beating analyst expectations of $238 million.
