GoDaddy reported its first-quarter financial performance today, including a loss of $0.34 per share on revenue of $376.3 million. The street had expected GoDaddy to earn $0.35 per share (Update: see below) on revenue of $374.52 million. The firm’s revenue grew 17.5 percent compared to the year-ago period.
(I’m sorting out the difference between the earnings per share figures, but I presume that the former figure which is calculated using normal accounting methods — GAAP — is derived quite differently from the latter figure, which I presume is an adjusted, non-GAAP metric.)
Update: I spoke with GoDaddy about the EPS issue, and it seems that the $0.35 per share expectation was predicated on a faulty share count. (You can make the Box joke here.) A more accurate expectation was a $0.34 per-share loss, which GoDaddy met.
After rising nearly 4 percent in a difficult day’s trading, GoDaddy is currently down a few points in after-hours trading.
During the first quarter of 2015, GoDaddy lost $43.4 million on a GAAP basis, although the firm generated net cash of $72.1 million during the same period. That net loss is down around $8 million from the year-ago quarter.
The firm also noted that its average revenue per user grew 9.6 percent to $115, while its total bookings picked up 13.7 percent to $498.7 million. The company expects revenue between $390 and $395 million in the current quarter. The street had expected a figure of $390.66 million, putting GoDaddy’s guidance mostly above street dreams.
GoDaddy remains a heavily indebted company, though its current cash position and debt load were helped by its public offering, it seems. From the company’s earnings report:
At March 31, 2015, total cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments were $197.9 million, total long-term debt, including current portion, was $1,418.0 million, gross debt was $1,466.8 million and net debt was $1,268.9 million. Assuming the completion of our initial public offering and the use of proceeds from such offering occurred on March 31, 2015, total cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments would have been $234.3 million and net debt would have been $850.5 million.
GoDaddy is worth just under $1.7 billion. That figure should help put its debt into perspective.
I’m yammering with the company’s execs in a few hours, and will update this post after I drill them on costs, debt reduction, dividends and product strategy.
Update: Chatted with GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving about the quarter. A few notes on the company’s debt situation are worth our time. The company deployed IPO proceeds to wrap a $300 million senior note, and cashed out a revolving facility. Iriving noted that the company’s debt is now at an earnings multiple it is comfortable with. Further accelerated debt payment doesn’t seem to be a massive focus, with the company more interested in having the resources on tap to hit go on acquisitions, if it feels they are worthy. Keeping in mine the above update about share counts and EPS, GoDaddy’s quarter was a bit stronger than I initially thought. Iriving also noted that GoDaddy expects FX issues relating to the strong dollar to persist. That’s a reasonable perspective, I think.