Kanzhun Ltd (BZ) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue Growth and User Expansion ...

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Thu, Dec 12, 2024, 12:00 AM 4 min read

Revenue: RMB1.91 billion, up 19% year-on-year.
Net Income: RMB460 million, up 9% year-on-year.
Adjusted Operating Income: RMB610 million, reflecting a 10% year-on-year growth.
Average Monthly Active Users: 58 million, representing a 30% year-on-year increase.
Number of Paid Enterprise Customers: 6 million, up 22% year-on-year.
Adjusted Operating Margin: 32%.
Cost of Revenues: RMB314 million, increased by 17% year-on-year.
Sales and Marketing Expenses: RMB522 million, increased by 14% year-on-year.
R&D Expenses: RMB464 million, increased by 12% year-on-year.
G&A Expenses: RMB286 million, increased by 31% year-on-year.
Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities: RMB812 million.
Cash and Cash Equivalents: RMB14.6 billion as of September 30, 2024.
Share Repurchase: USD220 million worth of shares repurchased this year.
Fourth Quarter Revenue Guidance: Expected to be between RMB1.795 billion and RMB1.81 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.6% to 14.5%.

Warning! GuruFocus has detected 1 Warning Sign with BZ.

Release Date: December 11, 2024

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

Kanzhun Ltd (NASDAQ:BZ) achieved a revenue of RMB1.91 billion, marking a 19% year-on-year increase.
The company reported a net income of RMB460 million and an adjusted operating income of RMB610 million, reflecting a 10% year-on-year growth.
User growth remained strong, with average monthly active users on the BOSS Zhipin app reaching 58 million, a 30% year-on-year increase.
The number of paid enterprise customers increased by 22% year-on-year, reaching around 6 million.
Kanzhun Ltd (NASDAQ:BZ) repurchased approximately USD220 million worth of shares this year, demonstrating confidence in long-term growth prospects.

Negative Points

Marketing expenses increased due to additional resources allocated for brand promotion during the Olympic Games and Euro Cup 2024.
The growth of the short-term paying ratio slowed down, affecting the company's paying ratio growth.
The recruitment market environment remains challenging, impacting the overall growth trajectory.
Share-based compensation expenses, although declining, have historically accounted for a high proportion of revenue.
The blue-collar revenue growth rate has significantly slowed down, mainly due to weak urban service industry performance.

Q & A Highlights

Q: The government has launched supportive policies since September. Have these policies helped boost the recruitment market, and have you seen any improvements in operating metrics? Additionally, how do you plan to maintain revenue growth in 2025 given macroeconomic uncertainties? A: We have observed an improvement in newly added enterprise users on a year-on-year basis since October, despite November and December being traditionally low recruitment seasons. The job seeker to recruiter ratio has also improved, indicating a better supply-demand balance. However, these policies will take time to translate into actual economic improvements. For 2025, we expect at least 15% user growth, stable paying ratios, and continued ARPU stability. Our blue-collar business, contributing over 38% of total revenue, remains a key growth driver.

Q: Can you provide a detailed breakdown of customer performance between blue-collar and white-collar sectors, and ARPU trends between SMEs and key accounts? Also, how do you plan to manage marketing expenses for user growth next year? A: Blue-collar revenue growth has slowed due to weak urban service industry performance, while white-collar remains stable. Manufacturing, logistics, and automobile sectors performed well. Key accounts showed the highest revenue growth, with ARPU up 5% year-over-year. We see significant growth potential with over 400 million marketable employees in China. We plan to maintain low marketing expenses due to strong natural traffic and no major upcoming marketing campaigns.

Q: What is your future growth strategy for the blue-collar business, and do you plan to build offline service capabilities? How do you view the competitive landscape? A: Our strategy focuses on maintaining a balanced ecosystem among factories, intermediaries, workers, and platforms. We aim to control salary ranges to ensure realistic job postings. We do not plan significant investments in offline services but will continue our current strategy. Our long-term advantage lies in maintaining truthful job positions, which will strengthen our competitive position.

Q: How is your overseas business progressing, and how do you balance profit goals with overseas investments? What are the potential AI applications in recruitment? A: We do not plan significant overseas investments next year, adhering to a cautious approach until we see clear opportunities. In AI, we focus on equality between job seekers and recruiters, ensuring users are aware of AI interactions. AI has improved our security operations, allowing us to manage increased user numbers without expanding our security team.

Q: What are the major drivers for profitability improvement next year, and are there any potential new investments? A: We expect gross margins to remain flat or improve slightly. Sales efficiency will enhance leverage on selling expenses, and marketing spending will be controlled. We do not anticipate significant R&D headcount increases or AI hardware investments. Our operating margin will improve alongside top-line growth, driven by strong operating leverage.

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

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