Tickets.com beats 4Q estimates

Tickets.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: TIXX), an online ticketing company, said Monday it lost 45 cents a share in its fourth quarter, much narrower than First Call's expected loss of 59 cents a share.

Shares fell 1 1/8 to 15 following the news. The stock has been rocky since it spiked up to a high of 32 just following its IPO last November.

Tickets.com's fourth quarter pro forma loss before extraordinary items and certain non-cash charges, was $18.1 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with a loss of $5.5 million, or 92 cents a share, in the prior year period.

Revenue for the quarter increased dramatically, with a greater percent of sales coming from online ticketing the company said. Revenue was $12.8 million, an increase of 73 percent, over revenue of $7.4 million in the fourth quarter of 1998. Online revenue increased over 1100 percent to $2.6 million (representing 20.3 percent of total revenue) compared with $216,000 (2.9 percent of total revenue) in the prior year period. Internet ticketing revenue expanded to 31.2 percent of total ticketing revenue during the quarter compared with 3.9 percent in the prior year period and 13.3 percent in the third quarter of 1999

The fourth quarter loss reflects Tickets.com's investments in brand building, expanded product and service offerings, and operating and Internet infrastructure, the company said.

For the year ended December 31, revenue rose 55 percent to a record $45.9 million, from $29.5 million in 1998. The annual pro forma loss before extraordinary items was $41.9 million, or $2.23 per diluted share, compared with $12.2 million, or $2.13 per diluted share, for the prior year.

During the fourth quarter, Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) and Cox Interactive Media made investments in Tickets.com of $55 million, closing a $85 million round of investment announced earlier in the year. Tickets.com will serve as the preferred ticketer on the Excite portal site, the @Home broadband service and the CIM local city guides under the deal.