Dating app company Match (NASDAQ: MTCH) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2025, but sales fell by 3.3% year on year to $831.2 million. Its GAAP profit of $0.44 per share was 17.8% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Match Group (MTCH) Q1 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $831.2 million vs analyst estimates of $827.6 million (3.3% year-on-year decline, in line)
- EPS (GAAP): $0.44 vs analyst estimates of $0.37 (17.8% beat)
- Operating Margin: 20.8%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 21.4%, down from 28.7% in the previous quarter
- Payers: 14.2 million, down 730,000 year on year
- Market Capitalization: $7.45 billion
"In my first full quarter as CEO, we've moved quickly to reinvigorate the business and this quarter's results show early traction," said Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Match Group.
Company Overview
Originally started as a dial-up service before widespread internet adoption, Match (NASDAQ: MTCH) was an early innovator in online dating and today has a portfolio of apps including Tinder, Hinge, Archer, and OkCupid.
Sales Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Unfortunately, Match Group’s 3.5% annualized revenue growth over the last three years was sluggish. This was below our standard for the consumer internet sector and is a rough starting point for our analysis.
This quarter, Match Group reported a rather uninspiring 3.3% year-on-year revenue decline to $831.2 million of revenue, in line with Wall Street’s estimates.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to remain flat over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last three years. This projection is underwhelming and implies its products and services will face some demand challenges.
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Payers
User Growth
As a subscription-based app, Match Group generates revenue growth by expanding both its subscriber base and the amount each subscriber spends over time.
Match Group struggled with new customer acquisition over the last two years as its payers have declined by 4.8% annually to 14.2 million in the latest quarter. This performance isn't ideal because internet usage is secular, meaning there are typically unaddressed market opportunities. If Match Group wants to accelerate growth, it likely needs to enhance the appeal of its current offerings or innovate with new products. 
In Q1, Match Group’s payers once again decreased by 730,000, a 4.9% drop since last year. The quarterly print isn’t too different from its two-year result, suggesting its new initiatives aren’t accelerating user growth just yet.
Revenue Per User
Average revenue per user (ARPU) is a critical metric to track because it measures how much the average user spends. ARPU is also a key indicator of how valuable its users are (and can be over time).
Match Group’s ARPU growth has been excellent over the last two years, averaging 9.5%. Although its payers shrank during this time, the company’s ability to successfully increase monetization demonstrates its platform’s value for existing users. 
This quarter, Match Group’s ARPU clocked in at $19.07. It grew by 1.1% year on year, faster than its payers.
Key Takeaways from Match Group’s Q1 Results
Match Group's number of users declined and its number of payers fell slightly short of Wall Street’s estimates, showing that demand is still struggling. Despite that, revenue was in line. The major positive was that EPS beat, showing that the company is outperforming on profitability. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock traded up 3.9% to $31.55 immediately following the results.
Is Match Group an attractive investment opportunity at the current price? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.
