Bumble Stock Hits All-Time Low on Sequential User Decline

The shares of Bumble Inc (NASDAQ:BMBL) are plummeting, last seen down 14.8% to trade at $40.69, after earlier hitting an all-time low of $38.08. The online dating concern posted worse-than-expected third-quarter losses of 5 cents per share, as well as its first sequential decline in new users since going public in February, with total paying users dropping about 2% to 2.87 million. Nonetheless, Bumble's revenue beat Wall Street's expectations.

The brokerage bunch is not responding favorably to the news. The equity earned four price-target cuts this morning, including one from BMO to $48 from $55. Analysts are split towards Bumble stock, with six carrying a tepid "hold" rating, and six calling it a "buy" or better. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus target price of $59 is a 45.5% premium to current levels, indicating more price-target cuts may be on the horizon. 

Short sellers have been hitting the exits in droves, however. Short interest is down 10.7% in the most recent reporting period, yet the 6.78 million shares sold short still make up 5.7% of the stock's available float, or just over three days' worth of pent-up buying power.

The last time we checked on Bumble stock, the dating app had just issued an upbeat third-quarter guidance. The $38 level seems to be containing today's massive bear gap, though the equity is still pacing for its lowest close since May. Over the last nine months, BMBL has shed 42.5%

Drilling down to today's options activity, 6,751 calls and 6,210 puts have crossed the tape so far, which is a whopping 14 times the intraday average. Most popular is the November 45 call, followed by the 40 put in the same monthly series, with positions being opened at the former.