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

Cardlytics (NASDAQ:CDLX) released its quarterly 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. Cardlytics had a negative net margin of 46.03% and a negative return on equity of 656.95%. The company had revenue of $34.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.20 million.

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 Stock Performance

NASDAQ CDLX traded down $0.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $0.64. The stock had a trading volume of 3,913,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 890,013. Cardlytics has a one year low of $0.57 and a one year high of $3.28. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $0.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.36 and a beta of 0.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Cardlytics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in Cardlytics by 143.5% in the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 85,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 50,663 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Cardlytics in the 2nd quarter worth about $59,000. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cardlytics by 263.0% during the second quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 162,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 117,687 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cardlytics during the third quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Cardlytics by 112.5% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 458,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after acquiring an additional 242,536 shares in the last quarter. 68.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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