Marketing technology and services provider Acxiom Corp. (ACXM), Tuesday reported a swing to a profit in the fourth quarter from a year ago, driven mainly by gains from discontinued operations as well as on the absence of a hefty impairment charge recorded last year. Excluding special items, adjusted earnings for the quarter came in ahead of analysts' estimates, as did revenues.
Acxiom's total revenue for the fourth quarter was $287.3 million, flat with the year-ago quarter. Four Wall Street analysts on consensus estimated revenues of $280.48 million for the quarter.
Marketing and data services revenues for the quarter grew 5 percent to $202.9 million, but was offset by IT infrastructure management and other services revenues, which declined 10 and 14 percent respectively.
Little Rock, Arkansas-based Acxiom posted a profit of $46.1 million or $0.58 per share, compared to a loss of $67.1 million or $0.83 per share last year.
For the the recent fourth quarter, Acxiom recorded a gain on disposal of discontinued operations of $30.9 million, while last year it booked a goodwill impairment charge of $79.7 million.
Excluding one-time items, earnings rose to $0.22 per share from $0.21 per share last year. On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.19 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Looking forward to fiscal year 2013, Acxiom expects earnings in a range of $0.55 to $0.65 per share, while revenues from continuing operations is forecast flat to slightly down. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $0.65 per share with revenues of $1.13 billion for the year.
Chief Executive Scott Howe said, "In the past year, we have tightened our focus, significantly strengthened our management team and begun development of our next generation of products. Looking ahead, our fiscal 2013 will be a year of continuing transition and investment. Our management team is now in place and we expect to build momentum throughout the year."
ACXM is currently trading at $13.67, up $0.62 or 4.75%, on a volume of 0.2 million shares, on the Nasdaq.
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