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 Sohu.com Inc (SOHU +2.07%) dropped nearly 10% early Monday, then recovered to trade down around 5% as of 12:30 p.m. after the Chinese online media company reported solid fourth-quarter results, but followed with disappointing guidance.
So what: Quarterly revenue climbed 24% year over year to $477 million, which translated to an adjusted net loss of $14 million, or $0.36 per share. Analysts, on average, were expecting a wider net loss of $0.49 per share on lower sales of $471.2 million.
For the current quarter, however, Sohu expects revenue between $425 million and $440 million, and an adjusted net loss per share between $0.95 and $1.05. By contrast, analysts were modeling higher revenue and a lower loss of $445.1 million and $0.72 per share, respectively.
Now what: Even so, Sohu.com CFO Carol Yu expressed optimism given what she described as "strong momentum" across Sohu.com's various businesses. That includes traction in mobile search, where it achieved nearly 80% revenue growth, and Sohu Video, where revenue jumped 61% year over year to $176 million. Yu also noted Sohu's Changyou gaming subsidiary returned to profitability by year-end 2014 -- though it's worth noting shares of Changyou plunged Monday as its results were technically mixed relative to Wall Street's lofty expectations for growth.
Nonetheless, Yu suggested the momentum they're currently seeing enables them to make "rational investments in online video and other promising initiatives," which should bode well for Sohu's ability to maintain its market-leading position across multiple online-centric industries in China. In the end, while I'm personally not too keen on its gaming subsidiary, the promise of Sohu's supplementary businesses could mean Monday's pullback is a solid opportunity for patient, long-term investors to step in.
