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 Web.com Group Inc (NASDAQ: WWWW) rose more than 10% during Friday's intraday trading, then settled to close up 7% after the Internet services and small business marketing specialist turned in solid first-quarter results.
So what: Adjusted quarterly revenue increased 10% year over year, to $141.2 million, which translated to adjusted net income from continuing operations of $33.1 million, or $0.61 per diluted share. Analysts, on average, were looking for adjusted earnings of $0.59 per share on sales of $140.9 million.
Now what: Web.com CEO David Brown added: "We have established a unique competitive position combining our proprietary technology platforms, well-trained customer service and sales teams and proven marketing strategies. Our increasing scale enables continued investment for growth to expand our opportunities to serve the large, underpenetrated small business market, while also maintaining best-in-class profitability."
Based on generally accepted accounting principles -- which excludes items like restructuring expenses and stock-based compensation -- Web.com also swung from a big $46.5 million loss in the same year-ago period to a small $0.5 million (or $0.01 per share) GAAP net profit. If Web.com can maintain its momentum with shares currently trading at a low 11 times next year's expected earnings, I see no reason the stock can't continue rewarding long-term shareholders from here.
