JOYY Shares Pop On Q3 Beat, Share Buyback Up To $1B - JOYY (NASDAQ:YY)

JOYY Inc YY reported third-quarter FY21 revenue growth of 21.7% year-on-year $650.5 million, beating the consensus of $621.5 million.
Drivers: Global average mobile MAUs decreased by 17.2% Y/Y to 288.8 million as the Indian government blocked Chinese-owned apps in its local market.
Average mobile MAUs of Likee declined by 26.2% Y/Y to 76.8 million, Hago slumped by 52.4% Y/Y to 10.8 million, while Bigo Live rose 10.7% Y/Y to 31 million.
The total number of paying users of BIGO (including Bigo Live, Likee, and imo) increased by 12.0% Y/Y to 1.52 million.
The average revenue per paying user of BIGO increased to $307.9 from $305.5 last year.
Segments: Live streaming revenues increased by 19.7% Y/Y to $612.2 million, primarily due to the continued growth of BIGO's paying users.
Margins: Gross margin improved 330 bps to 32.4%. Non-GAAP operating income margin was 4.8% versus (7.4)% last year.
Non-GAAP net income per ADS of $0.42 beat the consensus loss of $(0.04).
JOYY held $4.9 billion in cash and equivalents.
Share buyback: In September 2021, the board authorized the repurchase of up to $200 million of its shares between September 2021 and September 2022.
In November 2021, the board authorized an additional share repurchase plan for up to $1 billion shares between November 2021 and November 2022.
Outlook: JOYY sees Q4 revenue of $652 million - $661 million, below the consensus of $668.99 million.
Price Action: YY shares traded higher by 6.83% at $58.01 in the premarket session on the last check Thursday.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs