Dallas, Texas 02/13/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW), the holding company of one of the oldest “online employment solution” platform Monster.Com reported its 4th Quarter and full year operations on 6th February. Following the less than expected results from the final quarter of the year, rating agency FBR capital downgraded the stock from a previous recommendation of outperform to market perform.
The reasons for the downgrade can be found in the finer details of the earnings call below:
The $779 million market capped firm called out disappointing earnings per share of $0.02 for the 4Q, which was close to 60 percent less than its 4Q12 earnings. Analysts were also alarmed by the 77.8 percent dip in 4Q EPS, in comparison to 3Q13. They postulated that this dip is indicative of dramatic slowdown in the business drivers during the last quarter of the year.
Revenue Slides From Bread and Butter Business
Revenue for the quarter was down 5.9 percent to $198.7 million for 4Q. The key contributors to the slow down were the “Monster Careers and Internet Advertising & Fees” verticals, both of which registered 6.2 percent and 2.9 percent dip in revenue compared to 4Q12. The geographies which pulled the revenue down in the quarter were Europe and Asia Pacific, whose revenue was down 14 percent and 15 percent respectively in 4Q, in comparison to 4Q12.
Larger Challenges
Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW) management explained the slowdown in its commentary to SEC in the following note, “Our key Asian markets, Korea and India, also continue to be impacted by global economic uncertainty with revenue declines of 10.5% compared to 2012. The economic environment in Europe and Asia continued to be challenging in 2013 although we did see customer demand stabilize in certain countries in the fourth quarter, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and France.”
