Vistaprint Shares Soar 21% As Q4 Results Top Estimates, Rosy Outlook

(RTTNews) - Shares of Vistaprint N.V. (VPRT) soared nearly 21 percent in extended trading on Wednesday after the on-line marketing products and services company reported results for the fourth quarter that topped analysts' expectations. The company also provided earnings and revenue guidance for the full-year 2015, well above Street view.

However, the company reported a profit for the quarter that more than halved from last year, despite higher operating margins and double-digit revenue growth, hurt by significantly higher charges.

"Our fourth quarter revenue growth and operating profitability improved meaningfully versus our third quarter results. Revenue performance improved in the markets in which we had implemented major pricing and marketing changes for the Vistaprint brand in fiscal 2014 - the U.S., UK and Germany," President and CEO Robert Keane said in a statement.

Keane added that the company's recent acquisitions of People & Print Group and Pixartprinting grew ahead of expectations.

The Venlo, the Netherlands-based company reported net income of $1.03 million or $0.03 per share for the fourth quarter, lower than $2.31 million or $0.07 per share for the year-ago quarter.

The results for the latest quarter primarily include an income statement loss of $0.37 per share related to the disposal of a 45 percent minority equity interest in China's Namex Ltd. as well as a share-based compensation expense of $0.18 per share and amortization expense of $0.16 per share.

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the quarter was $25.56 million or $0.75 per share, compared to $14.09 million or $0.41 per share in the prior-year quarter.

On average, eight analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.53 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the quarter grew 21 percent to $338.16 million from $280.07 million in the same quarter last year, and topped eight Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $322.53 million.

Excluding a 2 percent favorable currency impact and 15 percent favorable acquisitions impact, revenue grew only 4 percent.

North America revenues grew 6 percent to $180 million, and Europe revenues surged 50 percent to $142 million from last year. Revenues for most of world increased 3 percent to $16 from a year ago.

Operating margin for the quarter expanded 470 basis points to 5.8 percent from last year amid lower expenses, while gross margin declined 410 basis points amid higher costs.

The company noted that gross margins were impacted by the recent acquisitions of People & Print Group and Pixartprinting, which have a different business model with lower gross margins than Vistaprint-branded business.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, the company expects adjusted earnings in a range of $3.46 to $3.96 per share, on projected revenues between $1.47 billion and $1.54 billion. Street is currently looking for full-year 2015 earnings of $3.28 per share on revenues of $1.41 billion.

"As we have for the past several years, we made major investments in our industry-leading manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure, which we believe is an operational asset that can drive long-term scale advantage across our multiple customer-facing brands," Keane added.

VPRT closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $37.73, up $0.14 or 0.37% on a volume of 0.58 million shares. The stock soared a further $7.87 or 20.86% in the after-hours trading.