Roblox Corporation (NYSE: RBLX) is engaged as an online, immersive digital experience that allows its millions of users to interact, explore, and build through its gaming platform. Shares of the gaming experiences company gained 26% through trading on Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Over the past three months, Roblox has seen average daily volume of 12.99 million shares. However, volume of 48.55 million shares or dollar volume of around $2.19 billion, exchanged hands during the day’s trading.
Shares of Roblox climbed after the company reported fourth quarter and full-year 2022 financial results. During Q4 2022, the gaming company reported revenue of $579 million, which was growth of only 2% year-over-year. Roblox also reported a net loss of $289.93 million or $0.48 per diluted share. This was a worse loss than Q4 2021, when the company reported a net loss of $143.3 million or $0.25 per diluted share.
On a bright note, Roblox did see very strong user engagement and growth during the fourth quarter of 2022. Average Daily Active Users (DAUs) reached 58.8 million, up 19% y/y. Hours engaged swelled 18% y/y to 12.8 billion hours of gameplay. Bookings reached $899.4 million, up 17% y/y.
Turning to full-year 2022 results, Roblox reported total revenue of $2.2 billion, which represented 16% year-over-year growth. The digital experiences company reported a total net loss of $924.37 million or $1.55 per diluted share. Roblox’s overall net loss expanded from 2021’s bottom line result of a net loss of $491.65 million or $0.97 per diluted share.
Looking into the engagement numbers for 2022, Roblox says average DAUs grew 23% y/y to 56 million gamers. Hours engaged ballooned 14% y/y to 49.3 billion hours of gameplay and bookings for the year rose 5% to $2.9 billion.
Management also issued key metrics for Roblox in January 2023. During the first month of 2023, Roblox estimated generating revenue between $213 million and $216 million, which would represents a year-over-year growth range of 22% to 24%. Average DAUs for the month were 65 million people, up 19% year-over-year. Roblox gamers spent 5 billion hours on the platform in January 2023, which was up 19% compared to January 2022. Bookings were estimated to be in a range between $267 million and $271 million for the month, up 19% to 21%.
“Bookings accelerated meaningfully in December and January, with year over year growth exceeding 20% in both months. Growth was strong across all geographies and age groups with particular strength among users above 17 years old,” said Michael Guthrie, Chief Financial Officer of Roblox. “As bookings re-accelerated late in 2022, we saw immediate improvements in adjusted EBITDA margins. For the full year, we were able to make important investments in infrastructure and trust and safety largely out of cash flow from operations.”
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