Cloud Stocks: Wix Simplifies App Creation
Israel-based Wix.com (Nasdaq: WIX) recently announced its fourth-quarter results that failed to meet the market’s expectations. The company continues to release new products and services to help small businesses expand their online presence.
Wix’s Financials
Wix’s fourth-quarter revenues grew 16% to $328.3 million, below the market’s estimates of $330.3 million. Non-GAAP net loss of $0.37 per share was better than the market’s forecast of a loss of $0.38 per share.
By segment, revenues from creative subscriptions grew 15% to $246.7 million. Business service revenues grew 19% to $81.7 million for the quarter.
Among key metrics, Creative Subscriptions ARR grew 15% to $1.01 billion. Total collections in the fourth quarter of the year grew 15% to $351.6 million. During the quarter, Wix added 478,000 net premium subscriptions to end with 6 million premium subscribers. It ended the quarter with 222 million registered users, growing 13% over the year.
Wix’s revenues for the year grew 29% to $1.27 billion. Non-GAAP net loss was $79 million, or $1.39 per share.
For the current quarter, Wix expects revenues of $338-$343 million, while the market forecasts revenues of $359.35 million.
Wix’s Product Expansion
Last year, Wix released a new product for business owners called Branded App by Wix. Branded App allows users to develop native apps without writing code. Till the launch of Branded App, Wix was focused on simplifying the process of building websites. Branded App extends that simplicity to the creation of an app. The solution will be available to businesses at $200 per month plus an annual fee of $99 on the App Store. Wix believes that it is a small price to pay for the returns that will be delivered by the app through additional sales. The app will automatically integrate features from the business website on Wix.
Last summer, Wix was also helping businesses improve their e-commerce offering by expanding its partnerships. It entered into tie-ups with Stripe and HP that will allow businesses to accept secure in-person payments for goods and services in physical stores. Additionally, organizations will be able to manage inventory and sales data, from within a single system. The global pandemic has accelerated the adoption of e-commerce, especially within smaller businesses. Businesses using Wix’s e-commerce product increased by 45%. The company is hoping to address this rapidly growing market through this offering.
Its stock is trading at $86.12 with a market capitalization of $4.9 billion. It had climbed to a 52-week high of $362.07 in February last year. Earlier this month, the stock had fallen to a 52-week low of $81.60.
The big difference I see between Wix and Spotify is in the PaaS strategy. Whereas Spotify has been executing the hell out of their PaaS strategy, Wix is still not really reporting any PaaS metrics. They do have an API integration strategy, but metrics are not reported. This doesn’t make a compelling case for analysts to account for any momentum that may be building up in that realm.
Disclosure: All investors should make their own assessments based on their own research, informed interpretations and risk appetite. This article expresses my own opinions based on my own ...
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