Groupon Beats Estimates on Q3 Earnings but Guides Lower for Next Quarter

Groupon beat estimates on its third-quarter earnings Thursday.

The deals company reported profit of three cents a share on $757 million in revenue for the September quarter. Wall Street expected earnings of one cent a share on $749 million in sales. The news represents a rebound for Groupon, which missed analyst’s revenue estimates last quarter.

Groupon did fall short of Q4 guidance expectations, however. The company predicts revenue between $875 million and $925 million and EBITDA profit between $80 million and $100 million next quarter, or earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization. Wall Street was expecting Q4 revenue around $928 million and adjusted EBITDA at $111 million.

Groupon stock was down about one percent in after-hours trading.

The company’s latest results follow three straight quarters in which Groupon has lowered quarterly or annual guidance. After Groupon’s Q2 earnings, the stock dropped more than 15 percent on news that Groupon lowered its outlook for 2014 EBITDA profit, a key measure of a company’s actual financial performance.

Groupon has been trying desperately to reach consumers and is turning to places outside of the email inbox to do so. Consumers are inundated with spam and promotional emails that bury Groupon’s messages, and now the company is creating Yelp-like business pages for companies in hopes consumers will find deals there.

The thinking: Company pages provide Groupon users with yet another reason to check the website every day.

Update: Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky says the he isn’t concerned with his company’s smaller-than-expected EBITDA projections for next quarter. The issue is tied directly to exchange rates, he says, and the majority of Groupon’s business is outside the United States. “[The currency exchange] cost us about $7 million in Q3 alone,” he told Re/code. “If you pull out that [currency exchange] noise, we’re right where we expected to be.”

Lefkofsky added that Groupon is working to expand its library of deals to help users better find what they’re looking for. “It’s all about balancing the marketplace so we have enough supply so when people are searching they have a good result,” he says. “If you’re a customer of Groupon, far too often, you’re not getting the results you want.” The company is hoping to improve the experience with a new Pages product that allows businesses to keep a profile page of sorts where they offer general info and deals. So far, there are more than 7 million merchant pages on Groupon, sys Lefkofsky.

Groupon stock was up more than 4 percent in after-hours trading following the company earnings call.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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