Duolingo‘s stock cratered 27% on lighter-than-expected guidance as the language learning platform zeroed in on user growth in lieu of near-term monetization.
“We have made a slight shift over the last quarter in how we invest, and we’re investing a lot more in long-term things because we see that as such a big opportunity ahead of us,” CEO and co-founder Luis von Ahn told CNBC’s Jon Fortt.
For the current quarter, Duolingo expects bookings to range between $329.5 million and $335.5 million, falling short of a $344.3 million estimate from FactSet. Adjusted EBITDA was forecasted to range between $75.4 million and $78.8 million, versus the $80.5 million expected.
Duolingo grew paid subscribers to 11.5 million and topped the 11.38 million expected by StreetAccount. But daily and monthly active users came up short at 50.5 million and 135.3 million, respectively. Analysts polled by StreetAccount had forecasted 51.2 million daily and 137.4 million monthly users.
Over the last several months, Duolingo has implemented a slew of new artificial intelligence tools, including an interactive video call feature to try and lure more paying subscribers. The company has also rolled out more language courses in record time with the help of AI.
“There are experiments that put monetization and user growth at odds, and part of my job has been, always, arbitrating between these two,” von Ahn told CNBC.
Over the last few months, he said the company has been “really shifting that trade off to be much more towards user growth.”
Duolingo’s revenues grew 41% during the quarter to $272 million, surpassing the $260 million estimate from analysts polled by LSEG. Total bookings jumped 33% year over year to about $282 million and also beat estimates.
Net income grew to $292.2 million, or $5.95 per share, up from $23.4 million, or 49 cents per share in the year-ago period. The company said net income was helped by a one-time tax income benefit of $222.7 million.
Duolingo also boosted its full-year revenue guidance to between $1.0275 billion and $1.0315 billion. That’s up from its previous guidance of $1.01 billion to $1.02 billion.
KeyBanc analyst Justin Patterson downgraded shares sector weight from an overweight rating as the company’s focus on long-term product initiatives weighs on near-term growth and valuation.
He wrote that “meaningful financial benefits” from these initiatives could take “several quarters” to materialize.
Duolingo one day stock chart.
