ASX is limited - it does not have really good world beating tech stocks. Appen woes worsen as EBITDA, revenue tank
Yolanda Redrup
Shares in artificial intelligence data services company Appen are set to tank on Tuesday, after the ASX-listed company revealed another major earnings downgrade.
Investors were already expecting a hit to revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the first half, but the company’s unaudited figures released on Tuesday were significantly worse than the market had expected.
For the first six months of the year, the company reported a staggering 69 per cent fall in underlying EBITDA to just $US8.9 million, driven by the reduction in revenue, product investments and a foreign exchange hit. This was 67 per cent below analyst consensus, according to RBC Capital markets.
Likewise, Appen suffered a 7 per cent fall in revenue to $US182.9 million, thanks to the reduction in spending on advertising related AI projects by its core big tech customers such as Facebook and Google. This missed consensus estimates by 14 per cent.
