Snap, the parent of disappearing message app Snapchat, stemmed recent declines in users and beat revenue expectations in its fourth-quarter results, despite investor concern over growing competition from Instagram and recent management upheaval.
The Los Angeles-based company posted a 36 per cent rise in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2018 to $390m, beating analyst estimates of about $379m. Net losses nearly halved compared with the same quarter the prior year, to $192m.
Snap lost several million users earlier last year in the wake of an unpopular redesign of its app, while Facebook-owned Instagram gained popularity with its rival Stories feature. However, Snap said that daily active users were flat in the fourth quarter at 186m, stabilising after two consecutive quarters of declines.
Shares jumped more than 18 per cent on the results, to trade around $8.20, but remain a long way from the issue price of $17 each in March 2017.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended the day 0.5 per cent higher and the Nasdaq Composite finished 0.7 per cent higher as investors digested earnings from companies including Estee Lauder and Ralph Lauren.
In Asia-Pacific on Wednesday, Australian shares nudged lower with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.2 per cent after a rally driven by banks in the previous session. The Topix was up 0.1 per cent in early trading in Tokyo. Hong Kong, China, Taiwan Singapore, South Korea remain closed for the lunar new year holiday.
