Match Group Inc (NASDAQ:MTCH) will be glad it decided to swipe right on the acquisition of Tinder after the popular dating app helped propel the company to post strong quarterly profits.
Despite posting a 22% revenue growth, the parent company saw its shares fall on Wednesday after issuing a more muted financial forecast.
Match posted revenue of US$541 million in its third quarter, up from US$444 million during the same period a year before.
Shares of Match lost nearly 8% on Wednesday’s open at US$63.74 before gaining ground to trade down 5% at US$65.18.
Match, which also owns dating websites like OkCupid and PlentyOfFish, told investors that it expects its current quarter total revenue to come between US$545 million and $555 million, short of Wall Street's expectations of US$560 million.
The downbeat forecast overshadowed a strong quarter of revenue growth and earnings for the company. During the three-month period ended September 30, Match earned profits of nearly US$152 million or US$0.51 per share compared to US$130 million or US$0.44 per share a year ago.
Analysts on average were expecting earnings of US$0.42 and revenue of US$541 million.
Dallas-based Match said that its subscriber base had increased 19% to 9.6 million, up from 8.1 million during the year-ago quarter. Tinder’s subscribers grew by 437,000 to 5.7 million in 3Q, setting up the dating service for its best year of subscriber growth.
The company has ambitious plans for its portfolio of dating assets, including a new five-minute video series from Tinder called “Swipe Night.”
It also plans to launch live video across several platforms to target a younger generation of users and increase engagement within its applications.
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