TrueCar Stuns Investors With Weak Guidance and Earnings

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 1:00PM EST · Published Feb 19, 8:40AM EST

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TrueCar Stuns Investors With Weak Guidance and Earnings — © Thinkstock

TrueCar Inc. (NASDAQ: TRUE) reported its fourth quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday. The company had a net loss of $0.06 per share on $63.6 million in revenue, which compares to consensus estimates that called for a net loss of $0.04 per shares on revenue of $64.8 million. In the same period of the previous year, The company reported no earnings and $55.5 million in revenue.

Over the course of 2015, a record 750,108 cars and light trucks were sold to TrueCar users by TrueCar Certified Dealers, up 23% from last year. The TrueCar Certified Dealer network included over 11,000 dealers at the end of the year, including 9,094 franchise dealers.

Average monthly unique visitors totaled 5.9 million in the fourth quarter, an increase from 4.4 million in the same period from last year.

In terms of guidance, the company expects first-quarter revenue to be in the range of $60 million to $62 million and for adjusted EBITDA to breakeven. There are consensus estimates of $0.01 in EPS on $69.18 million in revenue.
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Mike Guthrie, chief financial officer of TrueCar, commented on earnings:

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 15 percent from a year ago and the number of vehicles sold to TrueCar users by TrueCar Certified Dealers increased 12 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2014, yet the period was a difficult one and marked the close of a challenging year. We are moving quickly to strengthen our foundation and have made a number of important changes at the senior level of the company, most notably with Chip Perry joining us as Chief Executive Officer in December. We start from a good base and have a plan in place to make the investments necessary in order to excel over the long term.

On the books, cash and cash equivalents totaled $112.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter, compared to $147.5 million in the same period from the previous year.

Shares of TrueCar closed Thursday down 2.2% at $5.77, with a consensus analyst price target of $8.28 and a 52-week trading range of $4.01 to $20.24. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was down roughly 24% at $4.41 in early trading indications Friday.

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.