A Strong 4th Quarter Sends Shares of GoDaddy Inc. 11% Higher

What happened?

Shares of GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY), a provider of assorted domain name registration and website services dedicated to smaller ventures, are up 11% as of 3:05 p.m. EST Friday, after the company announced strong fourth-quarter results driven by customer growth.

So what

Starting from the top, GoDaddy's fourth-quarter revenue popped 23.9% to $602.2 million, compared to the prior year, topping analysts' estimates calling for $594.6 million. Its total paying customers jumped 17.6% in the fourth quarter compared to the prior year, and its average revenue per user moved 7.4% higher. GoDaddy's earnings checked in at $92.6 million, or $0.54 per share, compared to the prior-year loss of $1.9 million, or $0.02 per share.

Man at desk looking at website design on a laptop.

Image source: Getty Images.

"GoDaddy turned in another great quarter -- with strong customer, revenue and cash flow growth -- solidifying our leadership position as the place people go to start their ideas, grow and thrive online," said Scott Wagner, CEO of GoDaddy, in a press release. "We see nice momentum heading into 2018, and are confident that our value proposition to customers will enable us to continue to deliver growth at scale."

Now what

Part of the driving force behind GoDaddy's growing customer base, as well as improved revenue per customer, was its acquisition of Host Europe Group for $1.82 billion. And investors can bet that with such momentum behind its recent results, it will keep its eyes open for more acquisitions and possible partnerships.

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Daniel Miller has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.