Eventbrite (NYSE:EB) shares have plunged 25% premarket Friday on the back of its latest earnings report and subsequent analyst downgrades.
The company reported Q2 EPS of $0.01, $0.06 better than the analyst estimate of ($0.05). However, revenue for the quarter came in at $84.55 million, short of the consensus estimate of $86.07 million.
In addition, the company's full-year guidance was disappointing. Eventbrite sees FY2024 revenue between $74 and $77 million, well below the consensus of $93.581 million and $318 million to $325 million for fiscal year 2024, versus the consensus of $365.3 million.
Reacting to the report, KeyBanc Capital analysts downgraded the stock to Sector Weight from Overweight, saying the company's monetization pivot limits visibility.
"Our thesis on monetization and margin inflection has changed," said the bank. "Eventbrite acknowledged it pushed too hard with its monetization strategy, and is shifting back to having a free tier to recapture lost creators. While this is an appropriate action to reorient the platform, this materially changes 2H24E financials and creates uncertainty on how quickly creators will return to the platform."
Meanwhile, Truist downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy based on stronger headwinds from organizer fee changes.
According to the firm, the results were shy of already muted expectations, and guidance was "well below consensus."
"This reflects stronger headwinds to paid ticket growth following mgmt's move to implement organizer fees. With visibility into the turnaround in ticket growth low (we now expect it in 2H25), pressure on the top line is likely to increase, keeping the stock range bound NT," wrote the firm.
Piper Sandler cut EB to Neutral from Overweight, lowering the price target to $4 from $9 a share.
"Management has made the decision to back track on its capacity-based organizer fees in order to bring creators back to the platform," said Piper Sandler. "While we applaud the pivot, the return to paid ticket volume was pushed out even further and will likely get worse before it gets better."
Overall, the firm believes there are growth levers on the horizon for Eventbrite, but said it now needs to "see sustained (multi-quarter) momentum in paid ticket volume before getting more constructive."