E-House Q2 Adj. Profit Meets View, Revenues Beat; Backs 2014 Revenue Outlook

(RTTNews) - China-based real estate services provider E-House (China) Holdings Ltd (EJ) on Wednesday reported a profit for the second quarter that more than doubled from last year, reflecting strong revenue growth and fewer charges.

Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter matched analysts' expectations, while revenues beat their estimates. Looking ahead, the company affirmed its outlook for fiscal 2014 revenues.

Xin Zhou, E-House's co-chairman and CEO, said, "We are pleased that E-House continued its overall strong growth in the second quarter despite continued softness in China's real estate market. In particular, our online services unit Leju continued its strong growth momentum."

Shanghai, China-based E-House's net income to shareholders for the second quarter was $13.41 million or $0.09 per American Depositary Share or ADS, up from $6.40 million or $0.05 per ADS in the year-ago period.

Excluding share-based compensation expense and amortization of intangible assets, adjusted earnings for the latest quarter were $20.57 million or $0.14 per ADS, compared to $15.35 million or $0.11 per ADS in the prior-year quarter.

On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.14 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter grew 29 percent to $210.15 million from $163.42 million in the year-ago period, primarily driven by revenue increases from real estate online services. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $200.41 million for the quarter.

Revenues from real estate online services surged 63 percent year-on-year to $117.3 million. This includes $68.3 million in revenues from e-commerce services, which grew by 159 percent from last year.

Revenues from primary real estate agency services edged up 1 percent to $63.3 million, while revenues from real estate information and consulting services increased 9 percent to $17.9 million.

Looking ahead to fiscal year 2014, E-House affirmed its outlook for revenue of $910 million to $930 million, representing an increase of about 24 percent to 27 percent from $731.1 million in 2013. Analysts currently expect revenues of $906.98 million for the year.

EJ is trading at $11.91, up $0.32 or 2.76 percent on a volume of 563,104 shares.