Charting Acxiom's Latest Earnings Release

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Acxiom (NAS: ACXM) reported earnings on Jan. 31. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q3), Acxiom missed estimates on revenue and met expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue dropped and GAAP earnings per share shrank significantly.

Gross margins dropped, operating margins expanded, and net margins shrank.

Revenue details
Acxiom booked revenue of $280.9 million. The five analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for revenue of $307.0 million. Sales were 6.1% lower than the prior-year quarter's $299.1 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.21. The five earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.21 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.10 for Q3 were 60% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.25 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Figures may be non-GAAP to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 23.3%, 90 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 11.9%, 140 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 2.8%, 420 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $280.0 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.17.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.12 billion. The average EPS estimate is $0.74.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 58 members out of 84 rating the stock outperform, and 26 members rating it underperform. Among 24 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 20 give Acxiom a green thumbs-up, and four give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Acxiom is outperform, with an average price target of $16.00.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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