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 Bazaarvoice (BV) plunged 28% early Wednesday after the social commerce solutions company announced solid fiscal third-quarter 2015 results but followed with disappointing forward guidance.
So what: Quarterly revenue climbed 14% year over year to $49.6 million, helped by a 30% increase in total active clients to 1,315. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came in at $2 million, while Bazaarvoice's GAAP net loss from continuing operations narrowed to $4.1 million -- a significant improvement over its $8.4 million GAAP loss in the same year-ago period. On an adjusted basis, Bazaarvoice achieved a net loss of $0.1 milllion, or roughly break-even on a per share. Analysts, on average, were expecting a wider adjusted loss of $0.06 per share on slightly lower sales of $49.3 million.
During the subsequent conference call, however, Bazaarvoice management stated they currently believe fiscal 2016 revenue will be in the range of 6% to 10%. Based on the $191.4 million mid-point of Bazaarvoice's current guidance, that results in an expected fiscal 2016 range of $202.9 million to $210.5 million, or well below the $218 million analysts were predicting.
Now what: Bazaarvoice CFO James Offerdahl blamed the shortfall on the delayed "impacts of recent and forthcoming new product innovations," but also reminded investors they now expect to be profitable for the full fiscal year 2016 as measured on an adjusted EBITDA basis.
In the end, that's fair enough. But until we see more tangible traction in Bazaarvoice's "recent and forthcoming" products, I'm personally content continuing to watch its story unfold from the sidelines.
