IAC/InterActive Slips To Loss In Q2, Results Miss View; Hikes Dividend

(RTTNews) - IAC/InterActiveCorp. (IACI) on Wednesday reported a loss for the second quarter, reflecting lower revenues and the impact of the write-down of certain investments.

Both revenue and adjusted earnings per share for the quarter missed analysts' estimates. In addition, the company raised its quarterly cash dividend by more than 40 percent.

For the second quarter, the media and Internet company's net loss attributable to shareholders was $18 million or $0.22 per share, compared to net income of $58.29 million or $0.67 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $3.18 million or $0.04 per share, compared to $82.88 million or $0.95 per share in the same quarter last year.

On average, 16 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.81 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The latest quarter's results reflect the $66.6 million after-tax effect of the write-downs of certain investments. These write-downs negatively impacted earnings per share and adjusted earnings per share by $0.80 and $0.75, respectively.

Revenues for the quarter declined 5 percent to $756.32 million from $799.41 million in the same period last year, and came in below analysts' consensus estimate of $796.63 million.

The company noted that strong growth at the Match Group and HomeAdvisor as well as at Vimeo were more than offset by declines at Search & Applications, the closure and sale of Newsweek print and digital and the restructuring of CityGrid Media.

Revenues at the Match Group increased 8 percent from the year-ago period to $214.3 million as Dating paid subscribers grew 10 percent to 3.5 million globally.

In the Media segment, Vimeo grew revenue more than 45 percent and reached nearly 500,000 paid subscribers. However, Media segment revenues declined 36 percent to $36.7 million, due to the impact of the closure of the Newsweek print business and the sale of the Newsweek digital business as well as timing of Electus projects.

Revenues from the Search & Applications segment declined 7 percent to $395.7 million, driven by lower Applications revenue. The Search & Applications segment operates Websites to provide search services and content, such as Ask.com, About.com, and Dictionary.com, and develops, markets, and distributes various downloadable applications.

Websites revenue increased 1 percent due to growth at About.com, the acquisition of the 'Owned & Operated' website businesses of ValueClick, Inc. and the contribution of CityGrid Media, partially offset by a decline in revenue at Ask.com. Page views grew 8 percent to 8.5 billion.

Applications revenue decreased 15 percent, primarily due to lower queries in B2B - the company's partnership operations, partially offset by query growth in B2C or the company's direct to consumer downloadable applications business.

eCommerce segment revenues decreased 6 percent from last year to $109.9 million.

The company's total costs and expenses for the quarter declined 5 percent from last year to $660.63 million.

IAC increased its quarterly cash dividend over 40 percent to $0.34 per share. The dividend is payable on September 1, 2014 to IAC stockholders of record as of the close of business on August 15, 2014.

IACI closed Tuesday's trading at $66.76, up $0.21 or 0.32 percent on a volume of 1.56 million shares.