WB Sina Swings to Profit on Weibo Strength
BY Dow Jones & Company, Inc. — 7:05 PM ET 05/11/2016
Chinese Internet company Sina Corp. (SINA) swung to a first-quarter profit bolstered by continued strength at microblog portal Weibo Corp.
On an adjusted basis, however, Sina (SINA) swung to a quarterly loss, largely tied to an equity loss from E-House China Holdings Ltd. (EJ) Sina is part of a consortium to take E-House private. The deal is expected to close during the second half of the year.
Sina's stock, up 24% over the past three months, fell 3.9% to $47.90 a share in after-hours trading. Weibo's (WB) stock, meanwhile, rose 2.3% to $23.60.
Sina, an early pioneer of the Chinese Internet, was founded in 1999 from the merger of Stone Rich Sight Information Technology Co., a Beijing software company, and Sinanet.com, a California-based company that ran Internet sites targeted at Chinese abroad. Weibo (WB) went public in the U.S. in 2014, with Sina retaining a controlling stake.
Sina also holds a stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA), which in turn holds a stake in Sina's Weibo and has been driving advertising to the microblog.
Over all, Sina reported a profit of $15.3 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with a loss of $10.3 million, or 18 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, Sina reported a loss of 4 cents a share. A year earlier, Sina reported an adjusted profit of 4 cents a share.
Revenue rose 8% to $198.7 million, driven by Weibo as in previous quarters.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected a loss of 5 cents a share on an adjusted basis and revenue of $ 190.9 million.
Advertising revenue rose 8% to $163 million, with revenue from Weibo offsetting a $7.5 million decline in portal advertising revenue.
Weibo (WB), which reported results separately, reported a profit of $7.1 million, or 3 cents a share, compared with a year- earlier loss of $3.1 million, or a penny a share. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, adjusted profit was 7 cents a share, up from a penny a year earlier.
Weibo's (WB) revenue surged to $119.3 million from $96.3 million a year earlier, above the company's projection and driven by a 25% increase in advertising and marketing revenue.
The company projects revenue of $138 million to $143 million in the current quarter, compared with analysts' projected $135.6 million.
Weibo's (WB) monthly active users totaled 261 million in March, up 10.6% from December and 32% from March 2015. About 85% accessed Weibo (WB) on mobile, the company said.
Daily active users averaged 120 million in March, up 13% from December and 35% from the year earlier.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
