Limelight Networks Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What:Limelight Networks (NAS: LLNW) dropped 34% in intraday trading today after reporting disappointing earnings.

So what: Non-GAAP EPS of -$0.05 fell short of the -$0.03 consensus estimate and declined from a profit of $0.05 in the year-earlier quarter. GAAP EPS of -$0.12 deteriorated from -$0.02 in the year-ago quarter. Revenue of $50.5 million increased 20% year over year. Cost of revenue increased only 8% year over year, but total costs and operating expenses increased 29% year over year. (And we thought it was just our elected officials that couldn't rein in spending to reflect revenue.)

Now what: Revenue came in about $2 million below management's forecast due to lower-than-expected campaign volume on its rich media advertising platform and a dip in CDN traffic for two large customers after a security breach of a third party's network. Current quarter guidance is for revenue of $51.7 million-$53.2 million, which represents growth slowing to 4%-7% year over year. Management said it is "pleased with our progress in the quarter on our strategic initiatives" and is "taking steps to reinstate growth." Yet, the earnings release offered no hint about how it plans to deal with the increasing competition that Akamai (NAS: AKAM) described in late July.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Cindy Johnson does not own shares of any company named above. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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