Adyen stock tumbles 28% on weak first-half results

Adyen (AS:) shares fell as much as 28% in today’s European session after the Dutch fintech company reported weaker-than-expected first-half .

Adyen’s profit remained nearly unchanged at €282.2 million ($307M), while net revenue saw a 21% increase to €739.1M. However, these figures fell below the consensus estimate of €777M.

H1 EBITDA dropped by 10% to €320M, again easily behind the consensus of €379M.

“Enterprise businesses prioritized cost optimization, while competition for digital volumes in the region provided savings over functionality. These dynamics are not new, and online volumes are easiest to transition back and forth. Amid these developments, we consciously continued to price for the value we bring,” the company said in a shareholder letter.

“Beyond the current industry dynamics in North America, another factor that impacted our growth was one we wrote about at the end of 2021 too: the fact that we would have liked to grow our team at a higher pace but were unable to hire enough top-quality talent. We now see the impact of a sales team size that did not match our ambitions, particularly in North America. Since then, we have ramped up our investments.”

Still, Adyen reiterated its longer-term revenue and margin forecast. It still sees its revenue growing between the mid-twenties and low-thirties.

“We expect a negative share price reaction to the print given the broad-based miss,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a client note.

Adyen stock is on Goldman’s Conviction List. The analysts rate the stock with a Buy rating and a €1,950 per share price target.

Adyen stock was exchanging hands at around €1,050 apiece on Thursday. It closed at €1,472.40 on Wednesday.