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 NeatEase (ADR) (NTES 1.03%) rose as much as 10.7% early Thursday, then settled to trade up around 8.7% as of 2:30 p.m. after the Chinese Internet company reported encouraging unaudited first-quarter results.
So what: Quarterly revenue climbed 54.2% year over year to $626.8 million, including 44% growth in online game revenue to $500.8 million, 31.8% growth in advertising services to $53.7 million, and a 278% increase in email, e-commerce, and other revenue streams to $72.3 million. That translated to adjusted earnings of $1.74 per diluted American depositary share (ADS), compared to $1.71 per ADS in the year-ago period. Analysts, on average, were expecting revenue of just $516.3 million, and adjusted earnings of $1.40 per ADS.
Now what: "Mobile games have become a major driving force in China's online game industry," noted NetEase CEO William Ding, "and we believe the high quality and diversity of our mobile offerings are resonating with users."'
Even so, Ding elaborated that while NetEase will continue to invest to maintain momentum in the mobile game space, its "strategy will remain focused on diversity, excellence and international expansion to achieve healthy growth across all of our Internet businesses."
Given both that prudence and NetEase's impressive first-quarter results, I think investors are right to celebrate today. And as long as NetEase can sustain that momentum and continue its solid growth across the board, I think the stock has room to rise.
