CNET beats Street
Overall revenue growth and decreased expenses for its TV operations helped CNET beat earnings expectations.
CNET posted profits of $3.7 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with a loss of $6.15 million or 45 cents a year-ago. The latest quarterly results take into account interest income of $487,000, a loss of $3.1 million from its Snap LLC joint-venture, and a one-time gain of $5.3 million from the sale of about 578,000 shares in Vignette.
The company reported an operating profit of $1.1 million.
But in following the number-crunching steps employed by many Wall Street analysts, which calls for excluding only a one-time gain from the sale of Vignette shares, the company would have posted a loss of $1.6 million, or 9 cents a share.
That beat analysts' expectations of a loss of 12 cents a share, according to First Call.
Revenue rose to $14.4 million for the quarter, up 66 percent from a year ago.
Revenue from CNET's online operations increased 85.3 percent from year-ago levels to $12.6 million for the quarter. Meanwhile, traffic on CNET sites rose to 7.2 million average daily page views in September, compared with 6.5 million in the month of June.
The company's television operations generated revenue of $1.8 million in the third quarter, virtually flat with the year-ago period. But the TV operations generated operating income of $103,000, compared with approximately breakeven last year.
"CNET's strong and steady revenue growth contributed to another profitable quarter for the company, and propelled our operating income up over 1 million dollars," CNET chief executive Halsey Minor said in a statement.
CNET: The Computer Network is the publisher of News.com.