Hardly any dating app has spread as rapidly in recent years as Tinder. Simply swipe right – Tinder, the matchmaking app, doesn’t need much more for the next date. This was also apparent in the figures of the parent company Match Group, and especially in the development of the share price, for a long time.

At the stock market launch in 2015, the share price came to $12 and rose to a high of $175 in October 2021. Since then, the euphoria has escaped from the papers. Currently, a share can be purchased for around $30. That means a loss of around 29% in the current stock market year.

Match Group – the market leader among dating apps The market leader among online dating services is Tinder, but in the meantime the number of dating apps has grown rapidly. Whether it’s OKCupid, Hinge, Plenty of Fish and Meetic (neu.de, LoveScout24) or apps focused on narrower target groups such as OurTime (Singles> 50 years old) or BlackPeopleMeet (Afro-Americans) or Chispa (Latinos). But what many people probably don’t know is that the Texas-based Match Group is behind most of the services (>40), which has also acquired many providers in recent years.

Revenue is picking up again After a growth dip in the last quarters, the US company was able to grow again in the third reporting quarter: Revenues rose 8.9% to 882 million dollars. This was slightly above the analyst estimates (Source: Seeking Alpha) by 1.55 million dollars. At the same time, the growth dynamic was higher than in the second quarter, when revenue could be increased by 4.4%. Tinder contributed the largest revenue share with 57% (+11% to 508 million dollars), followed by Hinge, which contributed 12% to the company’s revenues (+44% to 107 million dollars).

Regionally, development was very different: America showed a revenue increase of 3% to 455 million dollars, Europe even improved significantly by 17% to 252 million dollars while revenues in the „Asia and Pacific“ region fell by 4% to 160 million dollars.

Number of paying Tinder users decreases What the investors probably didn’t like was the subscription numbers at Tinder. The number of paying users fell 5% to 15.7 million. Nevertheless, the company-wide revenue per paying user increased due to price adjustments by 15% to 18.39 dollars. Match Group achieved the highest revenue per user in America with 20.25 dollars (+21%), followed by Europe with 18.37 dollars (+19%) and the Asia Pacific and Other region with 14.60 dollars (-4%).

Operating profit margin improves Meanwhile, Match Group’s operating result increased by 16% in the reporting quarter to 243 million dollars. In the end, a net result of 163.7 million dollars (previous year: 128.2 million dollars) was recorded in the company’s books. This corresponds to earnings per share of 57 cents, which was above the Wall Street estimates of 4 cents per share.

Further revenue growth expected Currently, Match Group’s management sees further growth: For the current fourth quarter, the company forecasts revenue growth of 8.7% to 10% to 855 to 865 million dollars. At the same time, the adjusted operating profit is expected to increase by 7% to 9% to 305 to 310 million dollars.

Conclusion: The figures didn’t knock the investors off their feet. Above all, the investors had hoped for more from the revenue forecasts. At first glance, the share price doesn’t look particularly expensive either. Analysts expect earnings per share of 3.16 dollars for 2024. This gives a price-earnings ratio of 9.4. If Match is able to sustainably attract more users with new functions and the integration of artificial intelligence within the dating apps, the share may also be worth a look in the future.