Monster Worldwide Profit Drops - Update

(RTTNews) - Online employment solutions provider Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW), Thursday reported a decline in second-quarter profit, hurt by the weak job scenario in Europe and elsewhere, as well as lower margins.

"While the global economy has continued to put pressure on our business, with Europe being our weakest region, we were encouraged to see some stabilizing trends in each of our major markets...," said CEO Sal Iannuzzi.

Shares of the company are down 3 percent in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Iannuzzi is resorting to new strategies to improve Monster's position in the job market, even as it managed to attract 200 million user registrations on its network until date.

The New York-based company posted quarterly net income of $3.4 million or $0.03 per share, compared with $4.8 million or $0.04 per share last year.

Results for the quarter include restructuring charges of about $7 million.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $9.6 million or $0.09 per share, compared with $11 million, or $0.10 per share a year ago.

On average, 9 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of of $0.08 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the second quarter dropped to $200 million, compared with $224.6 million a year ago. Analysts expected revenues of $207.49 million for the quarter.

Operating margin for the quarter declined to 4.1 percent, compared with 6.4 percent last year.

For the third quarter, the company expects earnings from continuing operations of $0.06 to $0.10 per share, while analysts currently anticipate $0.09 per share.

The company's stock is trading at $5.55, down $0.17 or 2.97%, on a volume of 2.7 million shares on the NYSE.