StoneCo Ltd (NASDAQ:STNE) stock rose 2.48% (As on March 15, 11:43:31 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company reported fourth-quarter adjusted net profit of 234.8 million reais ($44.70 million), swinging back from a 32.5 million reais loss a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA up 85.8% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA in 4Q22 was R$1,272.0 million, up from R$684.7 million in 4Q21 and 10.3% higher quarter over quarter. Adjusted EBITDA Margin was up 1.0 percentage point sequentially to 47.0% mainly due to efficiency gains in cost of services and selling expenses, despite overall higher G&A expenses in the quarter. Adjusted EBT was R$316.5 million, with adjusted EBT margin increasing 3.3 percentage points sequentially and reaching 11.7% in 4Q22. Adjusted Net Income in 4Q22 was R$234.8 million with adjusted net margin of 8.7%, compared with R$162.5 million and a margin of 6.5% in 3Q22. Adjusted Net Cash was R$3,489.6 million in 4Q22, an increase of R$385.5 million in the quarter and of R$1.2 billion in the fiscal year 2022.
STNE in the fourth quarter of FY 22 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 0.72 Brazilian reais ($0.14), beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 0.62 reais. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 44 percent to 2.71 billion reais in the fourth quarter of FY 22, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of 2.67 billion reais. The increase in revenues was mainly a result of (i) 49.3% growth in the financial services platform revenues, that reached R$2,308.2 million and (ii) 20.8% growth in the software platform revenues, that reached R$376.3 million. Non-Allocated represented the remaining R$21.6 million in revenue. Financial services revenue growth was mostly a result of the performance in the MSMB segment, with above-guidance TPV and higher take rates on a year over year basis. The year over year software revenue growth was mainly driven by the software Core POS and ERP business performance.
Moreover, Total Revenue and Income for Financial Services segment increased 49.3% year over year in 4Q22 to R$2,308.2 million. Total Revenue and Income for Software grew 20.8% year over year in 4Q22 to R$376.3 million.
On the other hand, in 1Q23, Stone sold its remaining stake in Banco Inter, representing 16.8 million shares. The shares were sold at a price of R$12.96, equivalent to R$218 million.
The company expects Q1 revenue to be of 2.60 billion reais. Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expect 2.71 billion reais.