Shares of HomeAway (AWAY.DL) stock fell as much as 17% in late trading after issuing weak guidance for both the fourth quarter and full year. Here's a closer look at the final totals versus Wall Street's projections:
|
Consensus estimate |
$115.93 million |
28.6% |
$0.16 |
(15.8%) |
|
Q3 actuals |
$117.1 million |
29.9% |
$0.20 |
5.3% |
|
DIFFERENCE |
+$1.17 million |
+1.3% |
+$0.04 |
+21.1% |
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
"Our pay-per-booking product is now available on all of our U.S. websites and our largest European websites and we now offer expanded distribution to these listings through our partnership with Expedia (EXPE 0.55%). As our marketplace evolves, we look forward to significantly increasing adoption of online booking across all of our listings," CEO and co-founder Brian Sharples said in a press release.
What went right
Paid listings are still growing fast, up 33.8% year-over-year in the third quarter versus 34.2% in Q2. Total listings now stand at 1,034,847, with 69.2% of those coming from subscription customers. In Q2, subscriptions accounted for 72% of listings revenue. HomeAway is moving aggressively toward performance-based listings -- activated via the pay-per-booking product Sharples refers to above -- whereby the company shares in rental proceeds.
What went wrong
While top and bottom line results came in noticeably ahead of expectations, HomeAway is still having a hard time turning revenue into profit. Non-GAAP earnings per-share rose just a penny year-over-year. Adjusted Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) rose 8.8%. Operating income fell 11.5%, mostly due to huge increases in spending on sales and marketing and administrative expenses.
What's next
Guidance came in well below Wall Street's projections. For the fourth quarter, HomeAway expects $107 to $109 million in revenue and $25.3 million to $28.3 million in Adjusted EBITDA. According to estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ, analysts were modeling for $112.34 million in revenue and $29.91 million in Adjusted EBITDA.
HomeAway also lowered its full-year guidance for the third consecutive quarter. After modeling for between $118 and $123 million in Adjusted EBITDA in earlier quarters, HomeAway now expects to earn $116 to $119 million on $444 to $446 million in fiscal 2014 revenue. Analysts were looking for $120.89 million in Adjusted EBITDA on $448.23 million in revenue.
