Now, Breathe: Demand Media Beats Wall Street Expectation in Q3
Demand Media beat Wall Street expectations in the third quarter, posting a loss of five cents a share. Investors had expected it to lose from four to six cents.
Revenue was up 25 percent to $85.1 million, compared to $65.4 million in the same period a year ago. Minus traffic acquisition costs, sales increased 26 percent to $78.1 million from $62.2 million.
The stock of the Santa Monica, Calif., social content company has suffered in the quarter due to worries about its traffic and growth, but it has recently bounced back after hitting all-time lows.
After losing almost nine percent today, in profit-taking ahead of earnings after a recent price surge, Demand shares rose over 17 percent in after-hours trading to $8.30.
Some more details, according to a Demand statement on the Q3 financial results:
Content & Media Revenue increased 27% to $50.7 million, compared with $39.8 million in Q310.
Traffic acquisition costs (TAC), which represent the portion of Content & Media revenue shared with Demand Media partners, of $3.4 million, or 6.7% of Content & Media revenue, compared with $3.2 million, or 7.9% of Content & Media revenue, in Q310.
Content & Media Revenue ex-TAC grew 29% to $47.4 million, from $36.7 million in Q310.
Registrar Revenue increased 20% to $30.7 million compared with $25.5 million in Q310.
In addition to its more high-profile content business, Demand also has a domain registry unit.
“We reported another strong quarter as we continue to build Demand Media’s foundation for long-term growth,” said Richard Rosenblatt, Chairman and CEO of Demand Media in the statement. “The Company is uniquely positioned to deliver data-driven professional content through its robust content publishing platform. We are now in the process of optimizing that platform while increasing our investment in video content and enhancing the quality, engagement and user experience of our sites.”
There will be a conference call at 2 pm PT today, which I will liveblog (as long as it is lively!).
Until then, enjoy the official Q3 earnings press release:
