Opera's Q3 2025 Earnings Call: Contradictions Emerge on Neon Pricing, E-Commerce Growth, and AI Integration

Date of Call: October 29, 2025

Financials Results

• Revenue: $151.9M (Q3), up 23% YOY
• EPS: $0.30 adjusted diluted EPS, relatively stable vs prior year
• Operating Margin: 24% adjusted EBITDA margin (Q3), expanded versus first half of the year

Guidance:

• Full-year 2025 revenue guided to $600M–$603M (midpoint ≈ +25% YOY)
• Full-year adjusted EBITDA guided to $138M–$141M (≈23% margin at midpoint)
• Q4 revenue guided to $162M–$165M (11%–13% growth); Q4 adjusted EBITDA $37.5M–$40.5M (≈24% margin midpoint)
• Cost of revenue expected ~35% of revenue; implied full-year OpEx pre-adjusted EBITDA ≈ $461M at midpoint
• Marketing to grow high single-digits YoY; cash comp up ~10%; continue reinvestment and seasonal marketing uplift

Business Commentary:

• Revenue Growth and AI Integration:
• Opera Limited reported revenue of $152 million for Q3 2025, up 23% year-over-year, surpassing guidance estimates.

• This growth was driven by the strategic positioning of their AI-powered browsers and partnerships, with a focus on AI services and user engagement.

• E-commerce Revenue Expansion:

• Advertising revenue from e-commerce represented 50% of total advertising revenue, contributing significantly to the overall 27% year-over-year increase.

• The growth is attributed to the company's focus on performance-based e-commerce advertising and strategic partnerships with leading players in the region.

• Financial Performance and Guidance:

• The company raised its full-year revenue guidance to exceed $600 million, reflecting a 25% growth for 2025.

• This revision is due to strong underlying performance and expectations for the remainder of the year, supported by robust growth in browser classics and new revenue partnerships.

• Product Innovations and Agentic Browsing:

• The launch of Opera Neon, a premium subscription-based browser, aims to revolutionize AI-powered browsing experiences.

• This innovation is driven by advanced AI capabilities and an architectural approach that differentiates Opera's offerings, focusing on user privacy and efficient browsing tasks.

• MiniPay and Stablecoin Adoption:

• MiniPay grew to 10.5 million non-custodial wallets and 310 million transactions, reflecting a significant increase in adoption.
• Strategic partnerships and the integration of stablecoins are facilitating cross-border transactions and expanding Opera's financial services offerings.

Sentiment Analysis:

Overall Tone: Positive

• Management reported Q3 revenue of $151.9M (+23% YOY) and record adjusted EBITDA of $36.3M (24% margin), raised full-year revenue guidance to $600M–$603M (≈25% growth) and described product momentum (Neon launch, MiniPay growth), signaling optimism and confidence.

Q&A:

• Question from Naved Khan (B. Riley Securities, Inc., Research Division): Maybe just on -- starting with Neon, been around a month since you took it out of the closed beta and opened it. Just curious about the traction you might have seen with it in terms of people who have signed on and how is the wait list for the product and how quickly you're moving through it? And also, maybe just talk also about the go-to-market strategy for Neon, both in terms of paid media and unpaid media and how do you plan to sort of drive the awareness for the product? The other question I had is around e-commerce. Curious about how do you see the growth in this line of business kind of sort of evolve going forward, not just necessarily in Q4, but actually more in 2026. How should we think about that?
  Response: Neon is currently invite-only and forming a close early community, will open to broader public in ~1–2 months with strong media reception; go-to-market will mainly leverage Opera's existing user base; e-commerce is scaling rapidly (doubling trends YoY) and remains under-indexed with significant runway.

• Question from Ronald Josey (Citigroup Inc., Research Division): Just a quick follow-up to Naved as it relates to Neon browser and adoption trends. I think Song, you mentioned on the call, it's tailored for the most advanced users. Just in this first wave, just talk to us a little bit more about the behaviors that you've seen from these users. Anything stood out, what you've learned here as you go to general market or call it, open it up to beyond just the invite list. And then on commerce specifically and not as much on the e-commerce side, but just I wanted to get your thoughts on Agentic commerce just as checkout mechanisms change as MiniPay becomes a bigger part of the business. But help us understand how you're thinking about Agentic commerce going forward.
  Response: Early Neon users are using agents for purchases; Opera's browser-native, task-based architecture enables faster, more cost-efficient agentic commerce than competitors, and Opera intends to preserve merchant visibility so partners don't become mere 'pipes'.

• Question from Eric Sheridan (Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division): Would love to get your sense across your array of advertisers, how you would characterize the current demand environment and how you're thinking about that environment sort of evolving in the forward forecast. That would be one. And then two, coming back to MiniPay, can you talk a little bit about how you see that building in terms of scale as we look out to 2026 and beyond? And how you think that will tie into the broader services layer of your offering in terms of driving overall ecosystem strength?
  Response: Performance e-commerce demand remains strong (Opera seeing >100% growth in e-commerce vertical), and MiniPay is already revenue-generating, growing rapidly (10.5M wallets, ~310M transactions) with plans to scale via partnerships and reinvest revenue into expansion.

• Question from Mark Argento (Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division): Could you just -- it's not still 100% clear to me what's kind of the gating factors are there in terms of the growth. Obviously, it looks like the business is growing extremely rapidly. But is it working with more e-commerce partners? Like what -- I guess, what are the mechanics there to better or to see additional growth or ultimately better understand that long-term opportunity? Also any update on OPay? Still plans there in terms of an IPO? Is 2026 going to be the year? Any thoughts on that?
  Response: E-commerce growth is driven by deep, regional partnerships with large merchants via performance-based revenue-share contracts; OPay is scaling, profitable and performing well—Opera intends to monetize its stake over time but has no timeline to announce.

• Question from James Callahan (Piper Sandler & Co., Research Division): I appreciate you breaking out the sort of other query revenue. Can you just talk about contractually how this revenue works and maybe just explain a little bit more about it at a high level? ... I guess where -- like how early would you say you are in kind of monetizing that opportunity?
  Response: Other query revenue is revenue-share like search—Opera drives traffic to partners and earns a share; management views this as an early but scalable monetization tied to browser dialogue/agent features.

• Question from Lance Vitanza (TD Cowen, Research Division): Back on Neon: how should we think about competitive positioning there versus Atlas/Comet and how many AI browsers can the market support? On MiniPay: is there a plan to monetize that activity or is it about engagement? And on GX: user base plateaued at 33M — is that a pause or maturity, and can revenue grow if users are flat?
  Response: Opera positions Neon as an LLM-agnostic, privacy-focused, horizontal browser with efficiency advantages vs vertical model companies; MiniPay already generates revenue but Opera will reinvest it to scale via partnerships; GX may see revenue growth despite a flat user count as Opera prioritizes higher-ARPU regions and product monetization.

Contradiction Point 1

Neon Browser's Pricing Strategy

It involves the company's approach to monetizing the Neon browser, which could impact future revenue projections.

Can you update on the Neon browser’s traction and go-to-market strategy? What is the growth potential for e-commerce, particularly in 2026? - Naved Khan (B. Riley Securities)

2025Q3: Pricing strategy for Neon is undecided, with potential for free and subscription-based models like in existing browsers. Monetization through partnerships with ecosystem support is possible. The focus is on product-market fit. - Lin Song(CEO)

How should we assess the pricing and cost structure for Neon? - Naved Ahmad Khan (B. Riley Securities)

2025Q2: Neon relies on available language models, leveraging their commoditized nature. Opera's advantage lies in browser context integration. - Lin Song(CEO)

Contradiction Point 2

E-commerce Growth and Seasonality

It involves differing perspectives on the seasonality of e-commerce growth, which is crucial for understanding revenue projections and strategic planning.

How will the current macro environment affect digital advertising, and what's MiniPay's future scaling strategy? - Eric Sheridan (Goldman Sachs)

2025Q3: E-commerce is growing, driven by performance-based partnerships. There are concerns about AI-driven browsing replacing human actions, but browsers like Opera maintain exposure to goods. - Lin Song(CEO)

Will e-commerce become seasonal like traditional business cycles as it matures? - Lance Vitanza (TD Cowen)

2025Q1: E-commerce growth may become seasonal once matured. - Frode Jacobsen(CFO)

Contradiction Point 3

AI Integration and Browser Efficiency

It involves the integration of AI in the browser and the expected efficiency improvements, which are crucial for user experience and product differentiation.

Can you discuss Neon's adoption trends, advanced user behaviors, and AI's impact on e-commerce? - Ronald Josey(Citigroup)

2025Q3: AI allows for faster transactions. Current limitations include the cost of AI tools, but efficiency improvements are expected within months. - Lin Song(CEO & Director)

How will Agentic AI's emergence and current AI investments shape the product and platform's future evolution? - Eric Sheridan(Goldman Sachs)

2024Q4: Agentic AI has two levels. From a browser's perspective, interesting things can be done, focusing on allowing user interaction and AI usage efficiency. Opera believes it can make AI tasks 10 times more efficient. - Song Lin(Co-CEO)

Contradiction Point 4

E-commerce Growth and Partnerships

It concerns e-commerce growth strategies and the role of partnerships in driving this growth, which is a key revenue driver for the company.

Can you provide an update on Neon browser's progress and go-to-market strategy? How do you view e-commerce's growth potential for 2026? - Naved Khan(B. Riley Securities)

2025Q3: We see the growth of e-commerce very strong, particularly in performance-based e-commerce like Shopee and Lazada in Southeast Asia. - Lin Song(CEO & Director)

Can you elaborate on the seasonality and customer concentration in the advertising business and key growth regions? - Mark Argento(Lake Street)

2024Q4: E-commerce partners are direct and focused on top players to achieve scale. Key regions include North America and Western Europe, where revenue growth is faster than overall growth. - Song Lin(Co-CEO)