ValueClick Beats Estimates But Declines from 2004

ValueClick bested its own and Wall Street’s expectations for the first quarter of 2005, posting an $8.7 million profit, or $0.10 per share, on revenues of $51.4 million.

Though the company did better than expected — analysts had predicted ValueClick would post only an $0.08 per share profit — the company’s earnings were down from the first quarter of last year, when it brought in $0.16 per share.

The company credited growth in affiliate marketing and media for helping it deliver a profitable quarter, but said its technology business had also performed better than it had expected.

“The affiliate marketing and tech segments performed ahead our plans,” said President and CEO Jim Zarley. “And media had a solid quarter with year-over-year organic growth of 60 percent.”

The media segment brought in $28.9 million, compared to $18 million in 2004. Executives attributed the growth to strong performance by Hi-Speed Media, Pricerunner, Search123 and the company’s European operations.

Within that segment, affiliate marketing grew 29 percent compared to last year’s first quarter. That division recorded $18.7 million in revenues, compared to $14.4 million in the year-ago quarter.

Technology revenues, meanwhile, went from $5.6 million last year to $6.2 million this quarter.

The company’s plans for the rest of the year include expansion of the Pricerunner shopping search engine into France, Sweden, Spain and Italy. The U.S. launch of the shopping site is planned for the second quarter.

“Our company has a lot of initiatives in play right now,” said Zarley.

ValueClick’s optimism led it to raise its estimates for the full-year 2005. The company now expects to bring in revenues of $218 to $223 million, up from $215 to $220 million. That will result, execs say, in a net profit of between $56 and $59 million, or $0.37 to $0.39 per share.