Bumble (BMBL) founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd thinks 2021 is teed up to be a big year for the dating industry as people get vaccinated and go on the prowl for love.
"Clearly, there has never been a moment in recent history that will present itself with such a demand to meet new people and to date again," Herd said Thursday night on the company's first earnings call since going public in February. "The entire globe has gone through an incredibly lonely period."
Investors appear to agree that pent-up demand for dating is about to be unleashed, and Bumble may prosper.
Shares of Bumble rose nearly 10% to $69.08 in pre-market trading on Thursday as the company's fourth quarter sales accelerated to 31% growth from 24% in the third quarter. Shares are still below the $76 opening price for Bumble from its Feb. 11 trading debut.
Sales for the Bumble app and Badoo app rose 47% and 10%, respectively. Total paying users increased 32% to 2.7 million.
Here are several of Bumble's key numbers from its first-ever earnings day.
4Q Net Sales: $165.6 million vs. $163.3 million estimate
4Q EPS: Loss of 1 cent (no estimates yet)
2021 Sales Guidance: $716 million to $726 million vs. $716 million estimate
2021 Adjusted EBITDA: $173 million to $178 million (no estimates yet)
"While we do expect some EBITDA margin contraction due to investments in international markets and relaunched brand marketing campaigns, we believe rev growth should handily beat initial guidance given significant pent-up demand for dating," said Jefferies analyst Brent Thill.
Herd created Bumble in 2014 — after leaving as co-founder of Tinder — with the vision of encouraging women to make the first move. Bumble’s key differentiator is that women have to make the first move in heterosexual matches. Either person can initiate the conversation in same-sex connections.
While Bumble is primarily known as a destination for singles to find a romantic partner, it has since expanded into categories like networking (BIZZ) and finding friends to hang out with (BFF).
At 31-years-old, Herd joined a rarified group of female founders and ultra-wealthy businesspeople. Her 11.6% stake in Bumble is now worth about $843 million. And of the 559 companies that have gone public in the U.S. over the past 12 months, only three, including Bumble, were founded by women, according to Bloomberg.