By Tess Stynes
Sina Corp. said fourth-quarter earnings soared on
investment-related gains and higher revenue driven by advertising
growth at the Chinese online media company's Weibo Corp. unit.
Sina, an early pioneer of the Chinese Internet, and Weibo are
battling with much larger companies-including Alibaba, Internet
conglomerate Tencent Holdings Ltd. and search provider Baidu Inc.
to dominate the Chinese Internet sector.
Weibo, which went public in the U.S. in April but remains
controlled by Sina, allows users to publish brief public messages
to followers who can repost them, similar to Twitter.
Chief Executive Charles Chao said "As we enter into 2015, we are
excited about the various opportunities unfolding ahead of us on
both Weibo and portal sides. We are also confident that our
initiatives in revamping our legacy business will start to take
shape and form the foundation for longer term growth."
For the 2015, Sina projected revenue, excluding effects of
deferred license revenue, between $800 million and $900 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected $885 million.
Overall, Sina reported a profit of $59.8 million, or 90 cents a
share, up from $44.5 million, or 59 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding stock-based compensation, gains related to investments
and other items, earnings fell to 24 cents from 47 cents. Analysts
expected per-share profit of 18 cents.
Revenue increased 7.2% to $211.1 million. Adjusted to exclude
deferred license revenue effects, revenue rose 8% to $208.5
million, above the midpoint of company expectations for $204
million to $210 million.
Advertising revenue improved 14% to $181.9 million as an
increase in Weibo advertising revenue was offset by a decline in
portal revenue.
Operating expenses surged to $132.9 million from $99.5 million a
year earlier, reflecting higher personnel costs, marketing
expenditures and bad debt expenses.
Overall, Weibo reported a profit of $4.6 million, or two cents a
share, down from $21.6 million, or 11 cents a share, a year
earlier. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items,
earnings rose to four cents from two cents. Analysts expected
per-share profit of four cents.
Revenue increased 47% to $105.2 million, slightly above company
expectations for $102 million to $105 million. Advertising and
marketing revenue improved 57% to $88 million.
As of Dec. 31, monthly active users reached 175.7 million, and
increase of 36% from a year earlier.
Total costs and expenses grew 43% to $100.3 million.
For the first quarter, Weibo forecast net revenue of $93 million
and $96 million, compared with analysts' estimates of $94
million.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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