Internet investment firm CMGI Inc on Wednesday posted a $117.4m net loss for its first fiscal quarter of 2000 but soundly beat Wall Street expectations as revenue more than tripled on a year-over-year basis. The loss for the three-month period ending October 31 amounted to $1.08 per share, when analysts surveyed by First Call were looking for a much wider loss of $1.76. Total revenue jumped 231% year-over-year and 131% sequentially to $123.7m. In last year’s first quarter, CMGI posted net income of $38.3m, or $0.38 per share, on revenue of $37.4m.
The Andover, Massachusetts-based company said that, excluding the effects of amortization write-offs and stock-based compensation, it would have recorded a loss of $6.8m, or $0.10 per share. Results for the quarter also included pre-tax gains of $46.4m from majority-owned operating company NaviSite Inc’s initial public offering and $48.3m from the sale of Yahoo! Inc shares. Total operating expenses for the quarter rose almost sevenfold to $398.3m, from $57.5m in the year-ago quarter.
During the quarter, CMGI completed the acquisitions of Alta Vista Co, Cha Technologies Inc, iAtlas Inc and Signature Network Inc. It also announced plans for five additional acquisitions, including AdForce Inc for $500m and AdKnowledge Inc for $170m. Both transactions are expected to close within a month or so. Yet another first-quarter deal saw the company purchase 250,000 shares of Akamai Technologies Inc for $26 each. The $6.5m investment is now worth $57.7m, based on Akamai’s Wednesday closing price of $230.375.
Separately Wednesday, CMGI announced a 2-for-1 stock split, to be issued January 11 to stockholders of record as of December 28. After the release of the earnings figures, CMGI shares surged $27.75, or roughly 14%, to $227.50, according to data from Instinet. During the normal trading session, the stock had closed down $5.3125 at $199.75.
