Acxiom Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates - Analyst Blog
16 May 2014 - 12:00AM
Zacks
Acxiom Corporation
(ACXM) reported non-GAAP earnings of $18.5 million or 24 cents per
share in fourth-quarter fiscal 2014, up from $14.1 million or 19
cents in the year-ago period. The adjusted earnings comfortably
beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 20 cents.
Non-GAAP earnings in fiscal 2014 stood at $66.2 million or 86
cents, up from $58.5 million or 76 cents in fiscal 2013. The
adjusted earnings for fiscal 2014 exceeded the Zacks Consensus
Estimate of 82 cents.
The company reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2014 GAAP loss of $29.2
million or loss of 38 cents per share versus income of $13.2
million or 18 cents in the year-ago quarter. The year-over-year
decrease in earnings was primarily driven by high impairment
charges in the reported quarter.
For fiscal 2014, Acxiom reported GAAP net income of $8.9 million or
12 cents per share versus $57.6 million or 75 cents per share in
fiscal 2013.
Revenues
Total revenue for fourth-quarter fiscal 2014 came in at $277.2
million, flat year over year. Total revenue for the fiscal year
ended Mar 31, 2014 was $1,097.5 million versus $1,099.4 million in
fiscal 2013.
By segments, sales from the Marketing and Data Services segment
improved 3.6% year over year to $209.7 million due to strong
performance in the U.S. IT Infrastructure Management Services
segment revenues were down 10.0% to $59.0 million. Revenues from
Other Services segment were $8.6 million versus $9.4 million year
over year.
Margins
Operating loss for the reported quarter stood at $15.1 million
versus operating income of $20.2 in the prior-year quarter.
Marketing and Data Services operating margin was 13.0% compared
with 10.0% in the previous-year quarter. The IT Infrastructure
Management segment reported an operating margin of 6.0%, up from
4.0% in the year-ago quarter, while that of Other Services segment
improved to approximately 7% compared to a loss in the prior
year.
Significant Quarter Developments
During the reported quarter, Acxiom entered into an agreement to
acquire LiveRamp - a leading service provider for onboarding
customer data into digital marketing applications for approximately
$310 million in cash.
Also Acxiom and comScore entered into a partnership to provide
marketers with increased audience reach and media return on
investment across multiple channels. Additionally, Acxiom announced
a partnership with Marketo Inc to help marketers utilize advanced
data insights to tailor marketing content and offers.
Additionally, Acxiom signed 7 new Audience Operating Systems (AOS)
agreements during the quarter with customers in several key
industries including Financial Services, Retail and Automotive.
Subsequent to the quarter end, Acxiom announced a partnership with
marketing Software Company for social advertisers SHIFT to provide
marketers with enhanced approach and the ability to achieve optimal
campaign results through the integration of AOS into SHIFT’s Open
Marketing Cloud platform.
Balance Sheet and Cash Flows
Acxiom ended fiscal 2014 with cash and cash equivalents of $418.6
million compared with $223.0 million in fiscal-end 2013. Long-term
debt came in at $289.0 million, up from $237.4 million in fiscal
2013.
Net cash provided by operating activities aggregated $165.0 million
during the year ended Mar 31, 2014 compared with $150.1 million in
the prior-year period. Free cash flow to equity stood at $76
million for fiscal 2014 compared with $56 million in the prior-year
period.
Outlook
For fiscal 2015, management expects revenues to be down
approximately 5%. The decline in revenues is expected to be driven
by the impact of lost IT infrastructure management customers and
the exit of analog paper survey business in Europe.
Earning per share is expected to be in the range of 75 cents to 85
cents. The year-over-year decline in earnings is expected to be
driven by lost IT infrastructure management customers and dilution
from the acquisition of LiveRamp and other expenses.
Acxiom currently has a Zacks Rank
#3 (Hold). Other stocks that appear attractive include CDW
Corporation (CDW), Barracuda Networks,
Inc (CUDA) and EPAM Systems, Inc (EPAM),
each carrying Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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