DoubleClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: DCLK) rose in early trading Friday, gaining 2.64 to 13.89 after the online advertising company beat analysts’ expectationsfor fourth-quarter earnings, even as it warned about the outlook for thecoming year.
DoubleClick shares had fallen Thursday ahead of the company’s warning, after portal giant Yahoo! said a slowdown in Internet ad revenue was holding its earnings back.
DoubleClick said revenue for the quarter rose 41 percent from a year earlier to US$132.3 million, whilefull-year revenue advanced 96 percent over 1999.
The New York City-based online advertising company reported income before extraordinary items of $216,000, orbreakeven per share, compared with a loss of $1.78 million, or 2 cents pershare, and against analysts’ expectations for a 2 cent loss. After all charges, the company lost $104.8 million, or 85 cents per share.
DoubleClick said its tech solutions division, which operates the DARTad-tracking system, saw revenue rise 114 percent from a year earlier,surpassing revenue from the media division for the first time. Media revenuerose just 19 percent from a year earlier.
For the first quarter, the company expects a pro forma loss of 7 to 9 centsper share, on revenue of $110 million to $115 million.
Revenue growth for the full year will be 6 to 12 percent, “consistent withlimited visibility for the media business,” DoubleClick said. Earnings pershare for the year will be between 7 and 9 cents, the company said.
Even though online advertising remains in a slump, DoubleClick chief financial officer Stephen Collins is optimistic about the future ofthe industry.
“Today, by some estimates, 2 percent ofmedia spending goes to the Internet, while 9 percent of people’s media timeis spent on the Internet,” Collins said. “We believe these figures willinevitably converge, as they have in virtually every other type of mediaover time.”
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