Weibo Corp (ADR) (NASDAQ:WB) is set to announce its second-quarter 2014 earnings on Thursday, August 14th. As per analysts estimate, the company is expected to post earnings per share of ($0.03) and revenue is expected to come in at $75.87 million.
Shift to mobile chat apps a concern
In the first-quarter, the company posted earnings per share of ($0.03), whereas revenue clogged in at $67.50 million, more than the consensus estimate of $25.90 million. For the full fiscal, analysts are expecting the company to post Earnings per share of $-0.01. For next fiscal EPS is estimated at $0.31.
Those bullish on the stock are expecting increased revenue from Weibo, just as Twitter saw the growth, in the wake of rising social media in China. Using Weibo services, Chinese users share their views with each other and government authorities are able to convey information to people. However, shift of users from the micro-blogs and social networks to mobile chat apps could eat into the growth of Weibo because revenue from ads will shift following the shift of the medium.
Weibo fighting back
[drizzle]Weibo, which is often dubbed as “China’s Twitter,” recently launched a video recording and direct video playback on its iOS and Android apps. The company is trying to enhance user activity on its platform in the wake of declining user engagement and cut throat competition from rival Tencent’s WeChat messaging service.
Users can access the video recording feature after updating the app. Video feature is integrated with the camera feature of the app and can be activated by sliding. After recording the video, users can share it immediately.
Weibo has been subjected to a number of analyst ratings recently. Citigroup analysts started coverage on shares and assigned Buy rating to the stock with the price target of $22.60, in a research note to the investors on Thursday, July 24th. ISI Group, also, started coverage of the stock with a Buy rating, in a research note on July 22nd. Separately, analyst at Tigress Financial started coverage of shares and assigned Buy rating to the stock, in their research note on July 22nd. Weibo, currently, has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $19.75.
On Wednesday, Weibo shares closed up 1.14% at $20.32, and the company has a one-year low of $16.26 and a one-year high of $24.48.
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