Alloy Online 3Q loss in line with forecasts

Alloy Online (Nasdaq: ALOY) met estimates in the third quarter.

After market close Thursday, the online portal operator and retailer for people in their teens and early 20s reported a net loss of $4.9 million, or 34 cents per share. First Call's survey of three analysts predicted a loss of 34 cents per share for the quarter ended Oct 31.

Third quarter revenue increased to $9.1 million, up 180 percent from the year-ago period, when Alloy lost $3.4 million, or 21 cents per share, on revenue of $3.3 million. Revenue came in ahead of analyst estimates, the company said.

"We saw strength across the board during the back-to-school season, led by excellent customer reception to our broadened range of merchandise offerings, together with the success of new marketing programs with blue chip companies targeting Alloy's Generation Y audience," said Matthew C. Diamond, chairman and CEO.

Gross profit margin of 54.8 percent was strong enough to let Alloy increase its holiday marketing, Diamond said.

Alloy had 1.3 million registered users at the end of the third quarter, compared to 850,000 in July. The company's name database held almost 3 million names at the end of October.

Shares of Alloy rose 5/8 to 18 3/4 in Thursday's regular trading prior to the quarterly report. All three Wall Street firms polled by Zack's Investment Research maintain some form of "buy" rating on Alloy.>