Image source: SINA Corporation.
What happened
Shares of SINA Corp. (SINA) closed up 10% Tuesday after the Chinese online media company announced stronger-than-expected third-quarter 2016 results.
So what
Adjusted quarterly revenue climbed 21.7% year over year to $272.3 million, driven by 21% growth in online advertising revenue to $233.6 million. More specifically, online ad revenue growth was driven by a $47.8 million increase in Weibo advertising and marketing revenue, and partially offset by a $7.7 million decline in portal ad revenue.
On the bottom line, that translated to 79.1% growth in adjusted net income, to $43.7 million, and 43.6% growth in adjusted net income per share, to $0.56.
By comparison -- and though we don't usually pay close attention to Wall Street's near-term expectations -- analysts' consensus estimates predicted lower adjusted revenue and earnings of $265.3 million, and $0.35 per share, respectively.
SINA CEO Charles Chao stated the company is "delighted" with its performance, elaborating:
SINA portal has further implemented its mobile strategy, with significant growth of mobile traffic from SINA News Application. Mobile monetization for portal has further enhanced, with 50% of the portal advertising revenues coming from mobile devices. With strong growth in user base, revenues, and profitability, Weibo has demonstrated its platform value with the network effect of the content ecosystem and strong monetization capability. We take great pride that Weibo is returning to the center stage of Chinese internet market.
Now what
As it stands, this was a fairly cut-and-dried quarterly beat from SINA as it progresses on the monetization of its web properties in today's increasingly mobile market. If SINA can sustain this upward business momentum going forward, I suspect the value of its shares will continue to follow suit.
