Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of SFX Entertainment Inc (NASDAQ: SFXE) plunged 11.6% Thursday after the company turned in lower-than-expected quarterly results.
So what: Quarterly revenue was $84.2 million, which translated to a net loss of $39.2 million, or $0.48 per share. Analysts, on average, expected SFX to post earnings of $0.06 per share on significantly higher revenue of $112.85 million.
Now what: CEO Bob Sillerman remained optimistic, noting the number of major festivals already scheduled in 2014 is "in excess of 65," or a 20% increase overall of 2013.
In addition, though SFX doesn't provide forward guidance, Sillerman did say their marketing and sponsorship initiatives have already booked more than $40 million of 2014 partnership EBITDA in the first three months of this year. By comparison, SFX turned in adjusted EBITDA of $23.6 million for all of 2013.
From a long-term investor's standpoint, however, I'm still not particularly intrigued by this small, yet-to-be-profitable company. For now, I prefer adding SFX Entertainment to my watchlist to keep tabs on it during the next few quarters. I could miss out on some short-term gains if SFX shows any progress toward achieving sustainable long-term profitability, but in the meantime, there are plenty of other promising companies out there in which investors can put their money to work.
