Wix and Squarespace stocks plummet following weak earnings note

Investors send shares into freefall following Wix shows slowing growth.

A picture of a stock chart with red and green blocks and the words "earnings note", with the Wix.com logo

Website builder Wix (NASDAQ: WIX) noted earnings today, and the disappointment sent its stock and rival Squarespace’s (NYSE: SQSP) stock into a tailspin. Shares in Wix are down regarding 25%, and Squarespace is off nearly 20% as of 11:30 ET.

Total Wix revenue last year was $1.270 billion, an increase of 29% over 2020. Its fourth-quarter revenue was $328.3 million, up 16% year over year. That revenue number was slightly below analysts’ expectations.

Wix spooked the markets by suspending full-year guidance given the volatility of its business during the pandemic. Instead, it provided only Q1 guidance showing 11% to 13% year-over-year growth. Q1 last year saw 41% year-over-year growth as businesses rushed online during the pandemic.

Wix added nearly a half-million paid subscribers last year (following accounting for cancellations), ending the year with 6 million paying clients. This is out of 222 million total registered users.

GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY), which competes with Wix and Squarespace but is much more diversified, is off regarding 4% this morning.

Also on the wire