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SNAP Gearing Up to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

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Snap (SNAP - Free Report) is set to report fourth-quarter 2020 results on Feb 4.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is currently pegged at $847.4 million, indicating 51.1% growth from the year-ago reported figure.

In the last reported quarter, its subscriber growth — reflected by Daily Active Users (DAUs) — increased 39 million on a year-over-year basis and 11 million sequentially. DAUs at the end of the reported quarter were 249 million.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for global DAUs is currently pegged at 257 million, indicating growth of 17.9% from the year-ago quarter.

Meanwhile, the consensus mark for earnings has increased by a cent to 7 cents per share in the past 30 days.

Let’s see how things have shaped up for the upcoming announcement.

Snap Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Snap Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Snap Inc. price-eps-surprise | Snap Inc. Quote

Factors Likely to Influence Q4 Results

Snap has been benefiting from a spike in the usage of Snapchat. The company has been focused on continuously adding a set of innovative features like Lens Studio 2.0, Camera Kit, Snap Minis and Bitmoji for Games, which is making Snapchat more attractive for users and advertisers.

In the to-be reported quarter, Snap launched the new Spotlight feature that allows users to share short-form videos publicly in its Snapchat app. The company announced that it will give over $1 million every day throughout the remainder of 2020 to users whose snaps make it to the top of the platform in a bid to boost engagement with the feature.

Moreover, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company launched Bitmoji Paint in the fourth quarter. It is a new game in Snapchat where millions of players can come together simultaneously to contribute to one massive collage. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

In addition to strong adoption of AR Lenses, Discover content and Shows are expected to have driven user growth amid coronavirus-led social distancing guidelines.

The growing adoption of Snapchat among Gen Z (13-24 years) is expected to have driven DAUs. Markedly, it is a larger platform than Facebook , Instagram and Twitter among this demography.

Markedly, in the United States, Snapchat platform reaches 90% of 13-24 year olds and 75% of 13-34 year olds. Snap has also been growing rapidly in other international markets such as India.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter ARPU is pegged at $3.29, suggesting an increase of 27.5% from the year-ago reported figure.

However, a recovering but weak ad-spending environment attributed to coronavirus pandemic is expected to reflect upon Snap’s fourth-quarter top-line growth.

Advertising has been the only source of revenues for Snap, which has been facing significant competition from the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Google and Pinterest for ad dollars.

Moreover, a persistent decline in price per ad impression is likely to have hurt advertising revenues.

Key Developments in Q4

On Dec 10, Snap announced a partnership with Twitter to bring tweets into Snapchat with a native integration that both companies hope will push users away from screenshots and toward more interactive embeds.

Moreover, the company announced a partnership with cross-platform game engine, Unity Software (U - Free Report) that will extend the reach of Unity’s Ad supply to Snapchat advertisers. This will also bring Snap’s technology to game developers through Snap Kit tools.

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