Among the retreating technology and technology-facing stocks, AOL stands out today in terms of the scale of its decline. As of this writing, AOL is down more than 24%, and could easily end the day down more than a quarter of its former value.
AOL owns TechCrunch.
Investors are more skittish about AOL today than they were yesterday with Twitter, a company that can’t find GAAP profits, and had more than 80% of its shares unlock on a single day.
So, what’s going on. Simply put, AOL’s earnings per share and net income were not great in its most recently completed quarter: Revenue of $583.1 million was better than expectations, but net income of a slim $8.7 million and earnings per share of $0.11 were not.
It appears that investors are cautious about AOL’s ability to generate an appreciable net margin on its revenue.
AOL had a rougher-than-normal quarter, as TechCrunch reported:
The top-line numbers beat analyst estimates on sales but EPS was weighed down on restructuring costs of $12 million and a $10 million asset impairment charge. AOL says that without the $22 million in one-off charges, its adjusted EPS would have been $0.34.
What this means is simply that if we are willing to go non-GAAP, things would look different.
Photo: AP