When your company reports earnings on a Friday night, that's bad. When your company reports earnings on a Friday night before an extended holiday weekend, well, that's really bad.
And that's what Mamma.com
It's better to read these numbers with a clothespin pinching your nose. Revenues fell by 24% to hit $3.2 million. Compared with last year's first-quarter showing, which got a boost from a one-time gain on an asset sale that led Mamma to a healthy showing of $0.17 a share, this time it lost $0.07 a share.
A significant pullback in spending from its largest advertiser led to the top-line tumble. The path to the bottom line was burdened by fees related to a Securities and Exchange Commission probe over stock manipulation, a botched buyout, and a rushed audit after its original auditor ditched the mess at Mamma.
Those overhead items are ugly, but they are, in fact, one-time items. Absent those expenses, the company would have actually produced a profit. Why does that matter? Well, with $2.24 a share in cash and investments, the stock isn't trading for much more than its balance-sheet greenery. On the other hand, the stock has dipped into the penny-stock camp, and shareholders are smarting, after seeing this stock peak at $16 just 13 months ago.
Sure, paid search is a gravy train, but you can easily get derailed if you're riding companies other than Google
I have long wondered why CNET
As for Mamma, the first-quarter report came on the heels of producing delayed fourth-quarter financials. That quarter, too, proved to be a dud, but there is asset-backed support here if the company does return to profitability. That news may not inspire you to open a site called Mammas I'd Like to Finance, but at least there's hope that stability may return to this awfully rocky stock.
Some more stories that Mamma used to tell:
- The company's previous quarter was also lackluster.
- Then again, maybe that's why this Mamma eventually scared away Mark Cuban.
- Thankfully, the company seems to be overcoming its share-dilution worries.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz loves his mamma -- but not his Mamma.com. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.