What happened
Shares of Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (IPG 1.00%) climbed nearly 10% on Friday after the advertising giant announced strong third-quarter 2018 results.
More specifically, Interpublic's quarterly revenue grew 3.4% year over year, to $1.9 billion, which translated to adjusted earnings of $184.5 million, or $0.48 per diluted share. Analysts, on average, were only expecting adjusted earnings of $0.46 per share on revenue of $1.88 billion.
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So what
"These results were driven by strong top- and bottom-line performance in media, as well as growth from our three global creative networks, our marketing services agencies and our digital offerings," stated Interpublic chairman and CEO Michael Roth. "Our agency brands and our talent across the portfolio remain among the best in their respective disciplines, which gives us confidence in the long-term competitiveness of our offerings and our client-centric service model."
Interpublic also completed its acquisition of Acxiom Marketing Solutions early this month -- a move Roth argued gives them a "strengthened position to help clients succeed in a world where data-driven marketing solutions are increasingly core to brands' success."
Now what
Interpublic reaffirmed its previous outlook calling for full-year organic net revenue growth of 4% to 4.5%, as well as its goal for expanding margins by 60 to 70 basis points from 2017.
Considering the company's relative outperformance over the past few months and with shares up a modest 11% year to date leading into this report, Interpublic gave the market more than enough reason to bid its stock up even further today.
