Kubient, Inc. (KBNT) Misses Q3 EPS by 81c

Kubient, Inc. (NASDAQ: KBNT) reported Q3 EPS of ($1.03), $0.81 worse than the analyst estimate of ($0.22). Revenue for the quarter came in at $280 thousand versus the consensus estimate of $200 thousand.

Third Quarter 2020 and Recent Operational Highlights

• Onboarded former Director at Centro, advertising technology and publishing veteran, Ryan Adams, as Senior Vice President of Partnerships
• Appointed Chairman, Founder, and Chief Strategy Officer ("CSO"), Paul Roberts, as Interim Chief Executive Officer ("CEO")
• Evaluated and streamlined The Associated Press' ("AP") digital advertising supply chain, resulting in a reduction in half of its non-essential vendors and a more optimized and cost-effective infrastructure
• Discovered new "Weasel Injection" ad fraud scheme or fake traffic being purchased by Demand Side Platforms ("DSP") and Supply Side Platforms ("SSP") of major brands
• Publisher inventory that Kubient can monetize, or ad impression opportunities, for the Audience Cloud, Kubient's flexible open marketplace for advertisers and publishers to reach, monetize and connect their audiences, increased 428% from September to October
• Closed an initial public offering (IPO) of 2,500,000 units, resulting in gross proceeds of approximately $12.5 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses

Management Commentary

"Our results for the third quarter were an encouraging step forward, driven by a number of key developments including our successful optimization of the AP's ad infrastructure as well as our noteworthy detection of the Weasel Injection fraud through our Kubient Artificial Intelligence (KAI) pre-bid ad-fraud prevention tool," said Kubient Founder, Chairman, CSO, and Interim CEO Paul Roberts. "As the digital advertising industry began to pick back up during the period, we witnessed an influx of 'supply' or publisher inventory connected to our audience cloud platform. To address this unmet and growing need, we've brought on a senior level ad veteran in Ryan Adams, who will be focused on maximizing this new monetization opportunity. Our plan with his new team will be to attract more brands and ad agencies to our audience cloud, ultimately driving demand-side revenue and supporting the ready-made supply-side inventory.

"The additional data points of progress we're seeing with our ad fraud prevention tool KAI are also encouraging. The Weasel Injection scheme proved to be a major issue for a number of global enterprises, underscoring just how prevalent this issue is and highlighting how important we believe our product can be. In an industry where speed is crucial, KAI is the fastest tool in a $42 billion ad fraud market. Thanks to the success of our initial beta tests in the first half of the year, we have received an increase in demand for KAI from a number of prospective customers. We also plan on rolling out KAI as a stand-alone application in the coming months, providing more optionality and expanding our potential customer base. In parallel, we are also looking to launch a self-serve DSP for a number of brands that have been requesting an alternative to the outdated mode of driving their campaigns through a third-party DSP or agency trading desk. With a number of major events on the horizon and a steadily recovering market, we look forward to driving continued growth and increasing share in the digital advertising industry."

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Kubient, Inc. (KBNT) click here.

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