Marry me? I know you don't know me very well. We haven't even built up the courage for our first kiss yet, but if you're willing to take a chance, I think you'll like me. I'm The Knot (OTC BB: KNOT). By day, I offer national and local content, guidance, and preparation assistance for the marrying kind.
I do get around, but I think you'll come to appreciate my rambling ways. It's not just the Real Weddings from The Knot series on the Oxygen channel. I also offer content through magazines and portals you know, such as Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO), Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) MSN.com, Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), and Time Warner's (NYSE:TWX) America Online.
My dowry? It may not amount to much, but I'm working on it. A secondary stock offering back in November doubled my cash to a buck a share, so at least I won't bring any long-term debt into our relationship. You have to admire that, right?
Last night, I wore my heart on my sleeve and told the world that I earned $0.05 a share in 2003 on a 24% jump in revenues. I boasted about my 4.6 million registered users, but you could see through my thin lace veil. Sadly, I'm the kind of one-stint stand that brides and grooms flock to in their time of need, then discard once their vows are exchanged. Well, except for that Ben Affleck kid. He always seems to be around.
But my site did average more than 92 million monthly page views this past quarter. That's an 80% improvement over last year, and just goes to show that I'm attracting a larger share of the marrying market.
Am I cheap? How dare you even imply such a thing! At 100 times trailing earnings and just over three times last year's revenues, one could argue that I'm lavishly expensive on the bottom line, yet almost reasonable on top. That's fine. After all, if you're thinking, "I do," let's think long term here.
A confession: I lost money in 2002, but was able to turn the corner of profitability last year by growing sales and slashing operating expenses. I've learned a lot, and with online advertising and content storming back, I think we have a beautiful future together.
Think about it, this is how dot-com heavyweights like eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) started out before building their foundations and earning an invitation to our Motley Fool Stock Advisor. So, what are you waiting for? Kiss me, you Fool. You love me. You love me Knot.
Getting ready to tie the knot or know someone who is? Do you know who you should and who you should not invite? Want a clever bouquet toss idea? Have a horror story to share? All this and more -- in the The Wedding Chapel discussion board. Only on Fool.com.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has only been married once -- and once should be enough. He recommends The Motley Fool's Guide to Couples and Cash as required relationship reading, and he does not own any of the shares mentioned in this story.
