According to a recent survey from Interland (NASDAQ:INLD), about 77% of small- to medium-sized businesses believe their operations are better because of their Web presence. OK, it's a bit self-serving; after all, Interland is a provider of Web services to this growing market segment. However, while this market is growing, Interland has been mostly in a turnaround mode for the past year -- a fact that is reflected in the company's stock. The 52-week range is $2.65 to $6.69, with the current stock price at $3.22.
In the latest earnings report, Interland demonstrated mixed results. The company posted revenues of $23.1 million last quarter, which compares to $26.6 million last year. There was a net loss of $3.2 million, although the company generated EBITDA of $2 million, with about $800,000 in capital expenditures.
A big problem with Interland's customer base is the churn. Over the past year, the company has taken steps to reduce this from $115,000 per quarter in lost business to $77,000 in the latest quarter.
What's more, the company has $23.2 million in the bank, which is nearly half its market cap.
To rev growth in 2005, Interland is pursuing distribution agreements. One that has already proved successful is its deal with Dex Media (NYSE:DEX), which is a provider of traditional Yellow Pages. The 1,000-plus direct sales force of Dex Media will help sell Interland's services.
Interland also plans to provide its customer base with online sales and marketing tools. One of the latest products is MyEzClicks, which manages paid-per-click campaigns for search engines such as Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO).
However, the best news for Interland may be this week's deal, in which iPayment (NASDAQ:IPMT) agreed to acquire the 25,000 small-merchant contracts from First Data (NYSE:FDC) for $130 million. On the news, iPayment shares surged 15% to $50.29. If Interland's stock price continues to tread water, its customer base may be an attractive buyout target.
Fool contributor Tom Taulli does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
