Shares of WeWork Inc. shot up 8.8% in premarket trading Thursday, after the co-working space rental company reported a much narrower first-quarter loss and revenue that rose above expectations, and raised its outlook. Net losses narrowed to $435 million, or 57 cents a share, from $2.03 billion, or $14.34 a share, in the year-ago period, as the number of shares outstanding increased more than fivefold to 759.68 million shares. Revenue grew 28% to $765 million, above previously provided guidance range of $740 million to $760 million. There were not enough estimates provided by FactSet to have a consensus. Total expenses were about halved to $1.12 billion from $2.10 billion. WeWork’s systemwide real estate portfolio as of March 31 consisted of 765 locations in 38 countries, supporting 916,000 workstations and 626,000 physical memberships, up 32% from a year ago. For the second quarter, the company raised its revenue guidance range to $800 million to $825 million from $775 million to $825 million. The stock has plummeted 40.7% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has dropped 17.4%.
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