DoubleClick Gains as Results Beat Forecasts

DoubleClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: DCLK) rose in early trading Friday, gaining 2.64 to 13.89 after the online advertising company beat analysts' expectations for fourth-quarter earnings, even as it warned about the outlook for the coming year.

DoubleClick shares had fallen Thursday ahead of the company's warning, after portal giant Yahoo! said a slowdown in Internet ad revenue was holding its earnings back.

DoubleClick said revenue for the quarter rose 41 percent from a year earlier to US$132.3 million, while full-year revenue advanced 96 percent over 1999.

The New York City-based online advertising company reported income before extraordinary items of $216,000, or breakeven per share, compared with a loss of $1.78 million, or 2 cents per share, and against analysts' expectations for a 2 cent loss. After all charges, the company lost $104.8 million, or 85 cents per share.

DoubleClick said its tech solutions division, which operates the DART ad-tracking system, saw revenue rise 114 percent from a year earlier, surpassing revenue from the media division for the first time. Media revenue rose just 19 percent from a year earlier.

For the first quarter, the company expects a pro forma loss of 7 to 9 cents per share, on revenue of $110 million to $115 million.

Revenue growth for the full year will be 6 to 12 percent, "consistent with limited visibility for the media business," DoubleClick said. Earnings per share for the year will be between 7 and 9 cents, the company said.

Even though online advertising remains in a slump, DoubleClick chief financial officer Stephen Collins is optimistic about the future of the industry.

"Today, by some estimates, 2 percent of media spending goes to the Internet, while 9 percent of people's media time is spent on the Internet," Collins said. "We believe these figures will inevitably converge, as they have in virtually every other type of media over time."