Meredith Q4 Profit Up, Tops Estimates; Sales Miss; Guides FY Earnings Above View

(RTTNews) - Magazine publisher Meredith Corp. (MDP) Thursday reported a rise in fourth-quarter net earnings, helped by lower income taxes which offset a weak revenue growth that stemmed mainly from decline in national advertising. Earnings also beat analysts' estimates, while revenues fell short.

In addition, the company issued guidance for fiscal 2015 earnings above Street View.

For the three months to June, net earnings grew to $40.44 million or $0.89 per share, from $33.8 million or $0.75 per share a year earlier.

Excluding certain items earnings totaled $39.9 million or $0.88 per share. On average, four analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters estimated the company's earnings to be $0.85 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

EBITDA totaled $74.09 million, compared with $69.39 million in the same period last year.

Total revenues advanced to $390.79 million, from $386 million last year, but were below the $396.67 million Wall Street expected.

Total traffic to Meredith's websites increased to an average of over 60 million unique visitors per month, while magazine readership totals 110 million.

Meredith expects annual earnings of $3.00 to $3.25 per share, while analysts expect $2.76.