Snap Rides New App Features to Post Highest Growth in 4 Years

Snap on Thursday beat Wall Street estimates for users and revenue in the second quarter, notching the highest growth rates since late 2017 as new features on its messaging app Snapchat attracted more users.

Shares of Santa Monica, California-based Snap rose about 10 percent to $69.20 (roughly Rs. 5,150) in extended trading, after its forecast for the current quarter also came in above expectations.

Snapchat, known for its Stories feature that lets users post updates that disappear after 24 hours, has grown its app into five parts spanning media content and viral short-form video clips to keep users engaged and draw in more advertisers.

Daily active users rose 23 percent to 293 million during the quarter ended June 30, above analysts' estimates of 290.3 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. User growth beat the company's prior best of 22 percent.

Snap's revenue jumped 116 percent to $982 million (roughly Rs. 7,310 crores), well above the expectation of $845.9 million (roughly Rs. 6,300 crores). Previously, its strongest growth rate was 66 percent.

The company continued to grow throughout the pandemic by promoting advertisement formats on Snapchat geared toward bringing in sales for advertisers, such as letting users swipe up on a mobile advertisement to go to the brand's website.

Snap forecast third-quarter revenue between $1.07 billion (roughly Rs. 6,970 crores) and $1.09 billion (roughly Rs. 8,110 crores), and it expects daily active users to grow 21 percent to 301 million, both exceeding expectations.

Analysts are expecting revenue of $1.01 billion (roughly Rs. 7,520 crores) and daily active users of 298.5 million.

New privacy controls implemented by Apple in April, which were intended to limit digital advertisers from tracking iPhone users without their knowledge, caused "some disruption" to advertiser demand, said Snap's Chief Business Officer, Jeremi Gorman, in a statement.

However, it was too early to gauge the long-term impact on Snap's business, Gorman said.

In order to help brands increase sales, Snap has also invested heavily in augmented reality technology for functions such as helping users virtually try on makeup or clothes.

© Thomson Reuters 2021