Cardlytics (NASDAQ:CDLX) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

Cardlytics (NASDAQ:CDLX) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.12, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $34.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.20 million. Cardlytics had a negative return on equity of 656.95% and a negative net margin of 46.03%.

Here are the key takeaways from Cardlytics’ conference call:

• Q1 adjusted EBITDA turned positive at $0.2M (vs -$4.1M a year ago) and adjusted contribution margin hit a record 60.6%, driven by a 38% reduction in adjusted operating expenses and cloud optimizations.
• Billings and revenue remain materially below prior year — billings were $58.1M (-37% y/y) and revenue $34.3M (-39% y/y) — with ACPU down ~21% and MQUs at 197M after the Bank of America departure.
• Management reports supply has stabilized and product momentum, including onboarding new FI portfolios later this year, the neobank Double Days promo that drove ~250k new activators, and three live partners on the Cardlytics Rewards Platform (CRP).
• International strength and forward guidance — U.K. revenue grew >21% y/y, advertisers are consolidating spend with Cardlytics, and Q2 guidance targets sequential growth (~9–10%) across billings, revenue and adjusted contribution with improved adjusted EBITDA visibility.

Cardlytics Trading Down 18.1%

Shares of Cardlytics stock traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $0.64. 3,913,768 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 890,013. Cardlytics has a 52-week low of $0.57 and a 52-week high of $3.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.36 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $0.90 and a 200-day moving average of $1.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Amit Gupta sold 69,833 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.19, for a total transaction of $83,101.27. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 987,387 shares in the company, valued at $1,174,990.53. This represents a 6.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Nicholas Hollmeyer Lynton sold 40,296 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.99, for a total transaction of $39,893.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 167,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $166,177.44. The trade was a 19.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 324,111 shares of company stock worth $330,154. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Cardlytics by 262.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,632,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,968,000 after buying an additional 1,182,593 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cardlytics by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 654,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $753,000 after buying an additional 20,908 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Cardlytics by 112.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 458,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,113,000 after buying an additional 242,536 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cardlytics by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 170,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,000 after buying an additional 46,973 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Cardlytics by 263.0% in the 2nd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 162,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 117,687 shares during the period. 68.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CDLX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Cardlytics in a report on Friday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cardlytics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Cardlytics in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Evercore set a $1.00 target price on shares of Cardlytics in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Lake Street Capital set a $1.00 target price on shares of Cardlytics in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Sell” and an average target price of $1.00.

Cardlytics Company Profile

Cardlytics, Inc operates a purchase intelligence and marketing platform that connects advertisers with consumers through bank and credit card transaction data. The company partners with financial institutions to analyze anonymized purchase information, enabling brands to deliver highly targeted offers and rewards directly to customers’ online and mobile banking channels. By leveraging real-time insights into consumer spending habits, Cardlytics helps marketers optimize campaign performance and measure return on ad spend more accurately than traditional digital advertising methods.

At the core of Cardlytics’ offering is its proprietary purchase intelligence engine, which aggregates and anonymizes transaction data from partner banks and credit unions.