JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s Wix.com on Wednesday reported a wider first-quarter loss on higher expenses but a jump in revenue from its services helping small businesses build and operate websites.
It lost 54 cents per share excluding one-time items versus a loss of 1 cent per share a year earlier as research and development and other expenses rose.
Revenue grew 41% to $304.1 million.
Analysts had forecast a loss of 66 cents per share on revenue of $295.2 million, I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv showed.
Wix raised its outlook for 2021 and expects revenue of $1.28-$1.29 billion for annual growth of 29-30% versus an estimate of $1.272-$1.286 billion made in February.
“While businesses increasingly require online commerce capabilities, we believe our growth will continue throughout the year,” the company said.
For the second quarter, Wix projects revenue of $308-$312 million, up 30-32% from last year. Analysts are forecasting Wix will post revenue of $312.3 million in the April-June period.
(Reporting by Steven Scheer; editing by Jason Neely)
