Pandora shares pop 9% after revenue beats expectations

Pandora rakes in $101.3M, beating analysts' expectations of $100.9M

Things are looking up for Pandora.  In its first year as a public company, its market cap has been a sad tale, but in today’s earnings call, the company came back with some good news.  Pandora’s Q2 earnings beat analysts’ expectations with $101.3 million in revenue, a 51% increase over the same quarter last year.  Wall Street consensus pegged Pandora’s revenue at $100.9 million.

Of the $101.3 million in revenue, $59 million came from mobile usage, and of that, $53.2 was from mobile advertising.  The remainder was from subscription.  Fully $89.4 million of Pandora’s total revenue came from advertising.

“This quarter demonstrated that our mobile monetization strategies are working,” said CEO Joe Kennedy, in a statement.

The bad news: Pandora’s net loss grew to $25.6 million in the first six months of the year, compared to the first six months of last year, when the company suffered a net loss of $8.66 million.

But JP Morgan’s Doug Anmuth expressed confidence prior to the call: “We continue to view Pandora as a compelling play on mobile advertising and believe monetization will improve.”   A couple of things Anmuth said to look for: strong usage growth and an expanded sales force.

Total listener hours were up 80% to 3.3 billion, compared to 1.83 billion in the same quarter last year.

Additionally, Pandora said it increased its headcount from to 589 from 437 employees last year.

The company expects full year revenue to be between $425 million and $432 million.  The team expects $115 million to $118 million in Q3.

During the call, CFO Steve Cakebread announced his plans to leave Pandora to “consider other industry changing opportunities.”

Pandora shares popped 9.33% to $11.02 in after-hours trading, compared to a close yesterday of $10.18.