Rediff Is in the Black
By
Rick Aristotle Munarriz
May 16, 2007
|
There's no slowdown to the Internet revolution in India. Mumbai's Rediff.com (Nasdaq: REDF) came through with better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results today. Earnings more than tripled to $0.07 per ADS on a 66% spike in revenues. Wall Street was only expecting the company to earn $0.05 per ADS on a 61% top-line advance.
The success at Rediff stems from the heady growth of its online pursuits in India, which now account for 75% of Rediff's revenues. Its stateside publishing business is growing, too, but it's nice to see the higher-margin India Online business growing even faster.
The beauty in this morning's report is that top- and bottom-line growth is accelerating. Rediff is growing faster now than it did during the first three quarters of fiscal 2007 combined.
It only makes sense that the world's second-most populous nation would be warming up kindly to the Internet. While too many investors see India as a hotbed of outsourcing, with companies like Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY) and Wipro (NYSE: WIT) leading the way, smarter investors are turning to companies like Rediff as a way to play the improving economic conditions in India itself.
Rediff is certainly doing its part to make the most of the growth of online leisure. Whether or not it's Rediff's role as a news source or the portal-esque features of search, free email, and casual games, visitors are coming to the site and advertisers are starting to take notice.
The stock isn't cheap. It's currently trading for nearly 80 times trailing earnings. However, you see how fast the company is growing. Shareholders know they have to pay a premium for a spin at the racetrack.
Should an investor be concerned that just 10 advertisers accounted for 55% of the company's revenues this past quarter? Not at this point in the company's growth spurt. Despite watching over 53.6 million registered users, this is a company that has booked less than $30 million in revenue over the past year. The advertisers will come.
An audience this big -- in a country this important -- won't be ignored for too much longer.
Related Foolishness:
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz relishes unearthing promising growth stocks overseas. He is also part of the
Rule Breakers
newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy.
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