Snap Inc.’s strong run over the last year continued Thursday with the Snapchat parent company reporting a massive jump in Q2 revenue and another quarter of better-than-expected user growth. The big quarter sent Snap’s stock price soaring in after-hours trading, putting the company within striking distance of hitting an all-time high.
Snapchat added 13 million daily users during Q2, pushing the company to 293 million daily users overall; analysts were looking for the company to add about 10 million during the quarter. Snap’s user base increased 23% year-over-year.
But investors are likely just as impressed with Snap’s financial performance, with the L.A.-based company’s revenue increasing 116% year-over-year to $982 million. That marked a new company record for quarterly sales, surpassing the $911 million the company brought in during the holiday quarter last year.
Snap’s Q2 revenue easily trumped the $848 million Wall Street analysts had projected; Snap also reported an unexpected 10 cents earnings per share, compared to the 1 cent loss analysts projected.
“Our second quarter results reflect the broad-based strength of our business, as we grew both revenue and daily active users at the highest rates we have achieved in the past four years,” Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said in the company’s letter to shareholders. “We are pleased by the progress our team is making with the development of our augmented reality platform, and we are energized by the many opportunities to grow our community and business around the world.”
Snap’s stock jumped 13.6% in after-hours trading to $71.52 per share after the company posted its Q2 report. If those gains hold on Friday morning, Snapchat will be close to its all-time high of $73.59. Snap Inc. was already on a nice run heading into Thursday, with the company’s share price increasing 26% since the start of the year.
It was a fairly eventful spring quarter for Snap, with the company making its biggest deal to date when it acquired augmented reality startup WaveOptics for $500 million in May. Around the same time, Snap also shared it had reached 500 million monthly users and was now used by 90% of Americans between the age of 13-24.
On Thursday, Snap reported its net loss decreased from $326 million at this point last year to $152 million by the end of Q2 — a drop of 53% year-over-year. Looking ahead, Snap projected it would add 8 million users during Q3 — pushing the company to 301 million DAUs, if that goal is reached — and that its revenue would increase 58% to 60%.
