What happened
Shares of Comscore (SCOR +0.55%) have popped today, up by 20% as of 12:20 p.m. EST, after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings results. The analytics specialist beat bottom-line expectations, guided 2020 revenue above Wall Street's best guesses, and announced a major new business deal.
So what
Revenue in the fourth quarter came in at $95.2 million, which translated into a net loss of $21.4 million, or $0.31 per share. The consensus estimate called for $0.34 per share in red ink. Adjusted EBITDA was $5.5 million, and Comscore finished the quarter with $66.8 million in cash on the balance sheet.
Image source: Comscore.
"Our fourth-quarter results demonstrate that our turnaround plan is working," CEO Bill Livek said in a statement. "We are encouraged by our operating performance, particularly in syndicated digital which showed improvement in the quarter, and local TV."
Now what
Comscore also announced a new measurement agreement with Comcast. On the conference call with analysts, Livek described how significant the new partnership would be:
This move vastly improves our direct measurement of television households across the U.S. markets and greatly enhance our national and local rating services. The entire television ecosystem is poised to benefit from this landmark announcement and [Comscore's] stable and predictive audience ratings impressions and scale. The integration of Comcast viewing information will strengthen our already stable and predictive audience ratings and add impressions and will increase accountability and insights for advertisers agencies stations and networks.
Aegis Capital analyst Victor Anthony characterized the deal as "a game changer." Comscore expects revenue in 2020 to be in the range of $390 million to $410 million, ahead of the $390.1 million in sales that analysts are currently modeling for.
