The dating sites may be increasing in user numbers, but are clearly not flourishing in profits. And now there is a new competitor on the scene that may threaten the usefulness of dating sites even more. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) recently launched its new “graph search” feature, which allows users to search for other users who have marked their relationship status as single. With graph search, Facebook members can search for other single users and filter the results based on their interests, education, age, hometown, current city and more — all while using natural language. With over a billion users already on Facebook, there are more fish in that Internet sea than in all the other sites combined.
But at the same time, Facebook may not be much of a threat at all. Several startups have already tried to use Facebook’s social graph for dating, with no real success story. Kingfish Labs raised $500,000 in early 2012 to use Facebook for dating, but its first Facebook application, Yoke, never took off and was eventually sold.
Facebook’s most recent earnings may not have impressed analysts much, but they were more impressive than the other dating competition. Facebook’s gross revenue in 2012 was just short of $5.1 billion, a 37% improvement over the previous year. Net income (non-GAAP) improved 6%. It’s not much, but it is better than Spark’s -629% plummet.
Keeping Up With the Times
While some websites suffer for a lack of keeping up with new technology and demands, man’s primal need for love has kept dating sites updating quickly. And since men (and women) are always on the go, it made sense to make the online dating process more mobile. Mobile dating revenue is expected to nearly double over the next five years, from an estimated $251.2 million in 2013, according to IBISWorld. Mobile dating on Match.com’s and OkCupid’s apps account for over half of all users.
Say It With Flowers
If dating stocks are just too risky for you, maybe consider sending shares of flower delivery magnate FTD (owned by parent company United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD) . In the 2012 third quarter, the FTD segment reached its seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth, when prior periods are adjusted for the timing of the U.K. Mother’s Day in 2011. FTD revenues increased 7% from the year-ago quarter, while GAAP operating income was $8.4 million, a decrease of 58% versus the year-ago quarter. However, overall, the FTD segment of United Online is doing well. It was acquired in 2008, and the company is now looking to spin it off in upcoming months into its own publicly traded company. (Other Fools are fans of FTD as well.)
The article Stocks to Love on Valentine’s Day originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Erin McBride.
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