HOMS ($25.70-$29) EPS -1.7 Beats by 2 cents, came in higher than consensus on Rev's,Raises 3rd Q Guidance.
Wednesday July 25, 4:54 pm Eastern Time
Homestore beats estimates, raises guidance
(UPDATE: adds details throughout, quotes from CEO, updates rise in stock price. Previous WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.)
LOS ANGELES, July 25 (Reuters) - Online real estate-services firm Homestore.com Inc. (NasdaqNM:HOMS - news) on Wednesday reported a 158 percent increase in second-quarter revenues and raised earnings guidance for the fiscal year.
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In after-hours trade on Instinet, Homestore shares jumped by 8 percent to $27.75 on the results, extending a rally that had begun in regular Nasdaq trade.
The Westlake Village, Calif.-based company said pro forma earnings after taxes and excluding special items and non-cash charges were $14.5 million, or 13 cents per share, compared to a pro forma loss of $29.8 million, or 29 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.
The average estimate of 12 analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call was for earnings of 11 cents per share, with a range of 10 cents to 12 cents.
On a net basis, including charges, the company lost $72.1 million, or 67 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 30, compared to a net loss of $24.7 million, or 31 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.
Revenues for the June 30 quarter were $129.3 million, up 23 percent against the prior quarter and up 158 percent from the year-earlier quarter.
The company raised its earnings per share estimate for the year, to 55 cents. The First Call consensus estimate had been for earnings of 53 cents, with a range of 50 cents to 54 cents.
Homestore also said revenue for the year could be 4 percent higher, up to $522 million from previous guidance of $500 million in April.
For 2002, the company raised guidance for revenue of $684 million and earnings per share of 93 cents. The First Call estimate had been for earnings of 91 cents, with a range of 80 cents to 95 cents.
Shares in Homestore closed up 5.4 percent at $25.70 on Nasdaq before the release. For the year, Homestore's stock is up 21 percent, but trade has been volatile for the past two months.
In July, the stock has lost about 30 percent, after running 37 percent higher between June 8 and June 30.
``The news has only been positive, and frankly I think we're getting caught in some of the downdraft of the marketplace,'' Homestore Chairman and Chief Executive Stuart Wolff said in an interview.
On July 16, the anti-trust division of the U.S. Department of Justice gave final clearance to Homestore's acquisition of Move.com, a subsidiary of real estate franchise giant Cendant Corp. (NYSE:CD - news)
The review of that merger was the last part of a year-old Justice Department investigation into anti-trust concerns related to Homestore's market share. As part of that merger, Cendant, which controls realtors Century 21, Coldwell Banker, and ERA, took a 16.9 percent stake in Homestore.
``We're always looking for opportunity, and we didn't change that'' because of the federal investigation, Wolff said. When asked about the possibility of further acquisitions, he said ``that said, there is nothing out there that we need to buy.''
``I think we've proven that we are our own sector,'' Wolff said. |
