Why Perion Network Ltd. Shares Popped Today
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: Shares of Perion Network Ltd. rose 10% Monday after the company released encouraging fourth quarter results.
So what: Quarterly revenue grew 47% year over year to $31.3 million, which translated to 53% growth in adjusted net income per share to $0.49.
For the full year, Perion's revenue grew 71% to $104.6 million, while diluted earnings increased 56% to $1.54 per share. Both figures are well above guidance provided by Perion in November, which called for fiscal 2013 revenue in the range of $102 million to $104 million and adjusted earnings per share between $1.38 and $1.45.
Finally, Perion issued full year 2014 guidance for revenue in the range of $460 million to $470 million, with net income of $103 million to $108 million.
Now what: If that sounds like a massive increase, it's because it includes Perion's all-stock acquisition/merger with ClientConnect, the latter of which boasted 2013 revenue and net income of $325.5 million and $86.7 million, respectively.
CEO Josef Mandelbaum provided an update on the combo, saying the integration "has gone exceedingly well, even better than our expectations, due in large part to the talent and quality of the combined management team." As a result, Mandelbaum insists their "first quarter as a combined company is off to a good start, despite headwinds in the industry." Further, he says, the company has "deployed several initiatives to accelerate growth."
Even so, I'm in no big hurry to buy the stock today, especially considering the midpoint of Perion's 2014 guidance indicates the combined companies' revenue is only slated to increase 8%. Meanwhile, the midpoint of their combined 2014 net income guidance actually represents a 1.2% decrease over 2013. For now, I'm content to let the dust settle to ensure the transition continues to go smoothly before I make any long-term investing decisions on Perion stock.
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The article Why Perion Network Ltd. Shares Popped Today originally appeared on Fool.com.
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