Now you SINA
The unheralded dot-com pioneer continues to deliver healthy results, even as Sohu.com
As a jack-of-all-cyberspace-trades, SINA is doing just fine. The company's revenue climbed 25% higher during the fourth quarter to hit $70.7 million. Earnings on an adjusted basis -- which backs out items like stock-based compensation and certain amortization items -- inched 35% higher to $0.34 a share. (Revisit SINA's third-quarter earnings here.)
SINA's results clocked in just ahead of where Wall Street was waiting -- analysts were expecting $0.33 a share in non-GAAP profitability on $69.1 million in revenue.
SINA's growth story remains the online-advertising gravy train that rolls through the company's assortment of news portals, search, e-commerce, and Web 2.0 properties. It's there that SINA's top line soared 40% higher to $50.1 million, now accounting for 71% of the revenue mix.
The rest of SINA's revenue pie consists mostly of the fading mobile value-added services market that once defined the company. That changed once the government began to regulate the entertainment being provided to wireless handsets. Then mobile carriers like China Unicom
Wireless leaders like SINA and Sohu quickly diversified into other high-margin areas, leaving just a few pure players like KongZhong
In other words, growth at SINA's bread-and-butter Web business is humming along at a healthier clip than the overall 25% top-line spurt suggests.
SINA is looking for revenue in the current quarter to come in between $66 million and $68 million, also slightly ahead of analyst expectations. The profit picture is a bit hazy, as companies finalize their assessment of tax-code changes that went into effect this year.
SINA will be just fine. It found a way to thrive past the mobile crackdown. The tax man isn't going to slow it down now.
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