Teladoc (TDOC -3.72%) stock is sinking in Thursday's trading on the heels of the company's recent fourth-quarter release. The telehealth specialist's share price was down 11.7% as of 2:45 p.m. ET and had been off as much as 19.7% earlier in the daily session.
NYSE: TDOC
Key Data Points
Teladoc published its Q4 results after the market closed yesterday, delivering a mixed report. While the company's sales came in ahead of Wall Street's expectations, the business posted a wider-than-anticipated loss. Management's guidance for this year also underwhelmed investors.
Teladoc stock tumbles on wider-than-expected Q4 loss
Teladoc posted another quarter of sales declines in Q4, with revenue declining 3% year over year in the period. The business recorded a loss of $0.28 per share on revenue of $640.49 million in the quarter. For reference, the consensus Wall Street estimated had called for a loss of $0.22 per share on revenue of $639.44 million.
Teladoc's integrated care customer count actually increased 5% year over year in Q4, but average revenue per user declined 2%. With signs of weakening pricing power and a loss that came in bigger than anticipated, investors are selling out of the telehealth stock today.
What's next for Teladoc?
Teladoc is guiding for sales to come in between $2.468 billion and $2.576 billion this year. The midpoint of the company's guidance range suggests a roughly 1.9% decline from the sales of roughly $2.57 billion it posted last year. Meanwhile, the company guided for its annual loss per share to come in between $0.50 and $1.10 -- improving from last year's loss of $5.87 per share.
While Teladoc is cutting costs and reducing its losses, the company's growth engine has stalled -- and it's not clear what catalysts on the near horizon might be capable of reinvigorating it. Following botched acquisitions and massive write-downs over the last five years, the company's path to profitability and healthy sales growth looks challenging.
