Yandex Posts Yet Another Strong Quarter, Remains Attractive Based on Multiples and Projections

Yandex NV (YNDX) just released its financial results. Q4 2021 GAAP EPS of -$0.16 beat the consensus by $0.03. Revenue of $1.49 billion (+53.7% YoY) also beat estimates by $120 million. Shares are rising +6.75% on premarket. Total e-commerce GMV for the year grew almost 3x to RUB160 billion.

Total e-commerce GMV rose 192% YoY, while Yandex Market marketplace GMV expanded 215% YoY. Adjusted EBITDA came in at RUB9.72 billion vs. consensus of RUB7.57B, exceeding consensus but fell 29% YoY. The digital company reportedly repurchased 645,191 Class A shares in Q4 2021, for the total amount of $50.1 million.

During yesterday’s investors’ call Yandex Deputy CEO Tigran Khudaverdyan said “We finished the year with 12 million Yandex.Plus subscribers. We carried out 2.4 billion taxi rides in 2021 which is even more than some of our global public peers have reported. The revenue of Yandex.Delivery, our logistics business, grew 4x to our 3x, devices, 2.6x and the list goes on.” and “our key cash-generating verticals, Search and Portal and mobility together earned RUB103 billion in adjusted EBITDA, implying 50% year-over-year growth”.

The digital convenience company expects total group revenues to be between RUB490 billion and RUB500 billion for FY2022.

YNDX grew more than 16%, most since July 2017 with revenue growth of 54% for the quarter. With EV/EBITDA at around 45.7 – still boasting last 5 Yr CAGR to the tune of +26.6% – Yandex, despite certain intuitive political risks, remains a very attractive investment story.