Yesterday's earnings report out of Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU ) wasn't necessarily special.
For the Chinese dot-com, fourth-quarter revenue climbed 12% to $135.8 million, with non-GAAP profitability clocking in at $0.92 a share. The results were within the ballpark of analyst expectations.
Sohu's lukewarm success was fairly predictable. Advertising revenue rose an uninspiring 2% year over year, once again propped up by a 21% boost in online gaming -- which now accounts for 52% of total revenue. Growth decelerated on both fronts, though that isn't entirely problematic.
The real troublesome nuggets in Sohu's report are the declines in revenue, earnings, and advertising revenue compared with the previous quarter. It won't get any better in the near term, with continued sequential weakness in all three areas.
Even the company's mobile-delivered content business -- which seemed to be staging a renaissance earlier in the fiscal year -- was dealt a huge blow in November when China Mobile (NYSE: CHL ) stopped billing for Sohu's premium wireless missives.
Display advertising specialists Sohu and SINA (Nasdaq: SINA ) haven't fared as well as Baidu's (Nasdaq: BIDU ) paid search stronghold. It's a familiar problem in the United States, where Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG ) success in delivering valuable leads through sponsored search query results is trumping the meandering graphic ads being championed by its lesser rivals.
The good news for Sohu investors is that the company's balance sheet is stacked with nearly $14.50 a share in cash. The company also has a majority stake in its Changyou.com (Nasdaq: CYOU ) gaming arm: The 74.2% stake is worth nearly $1.3 billion. In short, there's roughly $47 a share worth of cash and Changyou.com in every share of Sohu. That's quite the mattress for a stock that closed at $50.22 yesterday.
It's not perfect. Cashing out on Changyou would be tricky and potentially taxable, unless it is simply spun out to investors. The move would also leave Sohu with its lackluster brand advertising business and fading mobile services. Hopefully Sohu has learned from the market's reaction to Focus Media Holding (Nasdaq: FMCN ) when it tried -- and ultimately failed -- to unload its core operations. In other words, Sohu.com offers value that can't easily be unlocked.
Value investors probably wouldn't have it any other way, though. As long as the fundamentals remain sound and the sequential declines don't morph into year-over-year declines, Sohu remains a reasonable growth stock with a value-magnetic earnings multiple in the pre-teens.
There is value in China. You just need to know where to look.
Given the escalating political tension between China and the United States, is it still a good idea to invest in Chinese stocks? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
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