After a growth hiccup earlier this year, it appears that Provide Commerce (NASDAQ:PRVD) is back on track. This morning, the company announced preliminary results for its fourth quarter, and happily, they came in ahead of expectations.
Provide is looking to report earnings of between $0.33 and $0.36 a share for its fourth quarter. Backing out stock-compensation charges would prop that figure up to as high as $0.39 a share. Analysts were pitching their tents at the $0.33 campfire. Wall Street was expecting revenue to rise by 22%. Instead, the company is looking at top-line growth of 27% as it hits $66 million for the period.
Provide specializes in the delivery of perishable goods, and nothing is as perishable as a quarterly report. It wasn't going to report on its performance for another two weeks, but it figured it would deliver the good news while it was still fresh. Stale quarterly reports? Gross!
Besides, the last time Provide waited patiently to report, it didn't work out so well. Back in April, the company missed its original first-quarter guidance, which sent the shares lower. It bounced back a month later after a strong Mother's Day holiday, and it's refreshing to see the favorable momentum stick around.
Provide's flagship business is its ProFlowers floral delivery service. It competes in that space with FTD (NASDAQ:FTD) and 1-800-Flowers (NASDAQ:FLWS). In addition to promoting its own site, the company has been adept at forging partnerships to sell its field-direct flowers through Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Martha Stewart Living (NYSE:MSO), and Home Depot (NYSE:HD). That has given the company market acceptance and made it that much easier to launch perishable-goods delivery sites specializing in gift baskets and premium meats. Those new lines are still in their infancy, but they are certainly vehicles for future growth if the company steers them correctly.
Earlier this year, Provide Commerce was recommended to subscribers of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers newsletter service. If you want to learn what other stock recommendations are being singled out these days, give the ultimate growth newsletter a free trial.
Amazon is a Stock Advisor pick; Home Depot was recommended in Inside Value .
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz did use Provide Commerce to deliver flowers to his wife on April Fool's Day. It's a holiday around these parts. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. T he Fool has a disclosure policy.
