GoDaddy Forecasts Current-Quarter Revenue Below Estimates

Web-hosting company GoDaddy on Wednesday forecast current-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates after a comfortable beat, sending its shares down 5 percent in after-market trading.

GoDaddy projected revenue in the range of $405 million-$410 million for the third quarter ending Sept. 30. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $410.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company, which manages about 60 million Internet domains, or about a fifth of the world’s total, has been investing heavily to expand into new markets.

“In the second half of the year, we’re going to continue our investment spending,” Chief Financial Officer Scott Wagner said on a conference call.

Over the past two years, GoDaddy has localized its offerings by countries/regions and analysts expect the company to enter other markets by the end of 2015, with China being considered a very large opportunity.

Revenue from international operations rose 19.6 percent to more than $100 million for the first time in the second quarter, ended June 30. The business now represents over 25 percent of the company’s total revenue.

GoDaddy, known for its racy TV commercials, said it had 13.3 million customers at the end of the quarter, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier.

Founded 18 years ago, the company competes with Endurance International Group and Web.com Group, as well as Amazon and Google, which recently entered the domain registration business.

GoDaddy’s revenue rose 16.5 percent to $394.5 million, beating the average analyst estimate of $392.9 million.

Total costs and operating expenses rose 20 percent to $428.1 million. General and administrative expenses included about $30 million in IPO-related costs, Wagner said.

GoDaddy had a blockbuster debut on April 1, with investors snapping up its shares betting that the company can grow further by providing tools to small businesses.

The net loss attributable to the company narrowed to $29.8 million from $37.6 million.

On a per Class A share basis, loss widened to 46 cents per share from 29 cents per share due to an increase in outstanding shares.

Average revenue per user rose 8.6 percent to $118 at the end of the quarter.

GoDaddy’s shares closed at $29.47 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The shares had risen about 47 percent since the market debut.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.