Roblox (RBLX) will report its Q4 earnings after the market close on Tuesday, as investors and analysts look to see how the metaverse gaming company’s growth path will shake out after receiving a boost from homebound users during the pandemic.
Here’s what Wall Street is expecting from Roblox in the quarter.
Roblox, which went public in March 2021, is considered a proxy for investors hoping to take an early stake in the metaverse, the 3-D version of the internet that prompted Facebook to change its name to Meta. The gaming platform allows users to create their own content, and make money off of it, and gives players the ability to travel between different games using a single account.
In Q3, the company saw revenue increase a whopping 102% year-over-year to $509.3 million, while bookings jumped 28% to $638 million. Bookings are a measure of the amount of virtual currency, or Robux, users purchase in the quarter. While undoubtedly impressive, that growth dipped slightly from Q2 when Roblox saw revenue increase 127% year-over-year to $454 million.
During Q4, Roblox announced a new deal with the NFL that allows users to build and manage their own NFL stadiums and manage their teams. The feature, called NFL Tycoon, joins a growing list of brand partnerships for Roblox — and more will likely come in 2022.
“We expect dozens of branded experiences to launch in the next several quarters,” Jefferies analyst Andrew Uerkwitz wrote in a note ahead of Roblox’s earnings. “We will be watching user numbers, how each monetizes, and the longer trend tails of these experiences.”
In addition to branded offerings, Uerkwitz says that international user growth will be an important metric to watch for in Q4. That’s because while investors will appreciate more users joining the platform, international Roblox players tend to spend less money, which could skew average bookings per daily active user lower.
Roblox is one of a handful of examples of metaverse apps that are already up and running. Other contemporaries include Epic Games’ “Fortnite” and “Decentraland,” and, of course, Facebook (FB) parent Meta’s Horizon Worlds.
Still, Roblox’s success may not be tied to the metaverse in the long run, and could simply be based on the fact that it’s a compelling game. We’ll just have to wait and see if it grows beyond that.
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