Match Group Inc. ($MTCH), the leading dating-app company behind Tinder, OkCupid, and Hinge (among others), is set to release earnings after the bell today. Consensus estimates are calling for $0.40 in earnings per share and $499.96 million in revenue, compared with $0.41 in EPS and $421.2 million revenue.

Overall, Match Group's big numbers are good: 16% growth in subscribers in the first quarter and Tinder subscribers up 1.3 million year over year.

But as one digs deeper into alternative data trends like hiring and workforce size, there are some things to be concerned about (it's not all bad, though - read on).

Job Opening and workforce size trend down since last quarter

In early 2019, Match Group was hiring for 49 people after a lull in late 2018. Since then, job openings stalled a bit, hitting a seasonal low of just 21 openings in June. Hiring ramped up a bit into July hitting a peak of 37 openings.

Along with slowing hiring activity, Match Group's workforce size appears to have stagnated a bit in a sign that the company is facing some internal attrition. Since the end of July, workforce size saw a market drop from 689 to 685 employees on LinkedIn. While that's not much of a job, the number of Match Group employees on LinkedIn hasn't seen growth since last April.

Continued relevance on social

It's not all bad. Outside of the apparent workforce issues, Tinder, Match Group's biggest dating brand, continues to trend well on Facebook, where likes have now reach 1.43 million, up from 1.25 million at this time last year.

Facebook users chattering about Tinder has increased by a significant, moving from a daily average of around 2,300 last year to 26,000 this year. While not all brand mentions on Facebook are necessarily good, this is an indication that the Tinder brand remains extremely visible among consumers.

Positive app reviews

Match Group's most valuable assets are its apps, where it monetizes and builds brand. Reviews for Tinder have increased as of late, and average reviews remain largely positive.

OkCupid, another important Match Group app, is also seeing active review counts whiel the average review rating is a positive 4.5 out of 5 on the Apple App Store.

Likewise, Hinge, the rising star of dating apps, and now owned by Match Group, is seeing its own rise in reviews on the App Store.

More of the same

As Match Group releases earnings, we're likely to see more of the same — which, in this case, is likely a good thing on Wall Street. There are cracks in the formula, however, when it comes to workforce size and growth. We'll look to see if the company makes and movement on the hiring front to reverse what could be signs of attrition or contraction.

About the Data: 

Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

Ad placeholder