Monster’s Shares Fall On Lackluster Guidance

Shares of Monster fell about 5 percent today after the online jobs service, which has been hurt by concerns about stock options backdating, gave earnings guidance that was below Wall Street expectations.
The company reported a net loss of $83.8 million, or 64 cents a share, reflecting the disposal of the TMP Worldwide North American Advertising & Communications business which it sold in August to Veronis Suhler Stevenson. It didn’t provide figures from a year ago because of the ongoing accounting review. Profit from continuing operations was 31 cents. Revenue was $285.9 million. Profit matched Wall Street forecasts and surpassed revenue estimates of $283.1 million, according to Thomson Financial. The company also said it expected to restate its results from 1997 to 2005 though it doesn’t expect the action to have a material impact on this year’s results.
Longtime Chief Executive Andrew McKelvey resigned on Oct. 9 and was replaced by William Pastore, the company’s chief operating officer. McKelvey is now chairman emeritus. In the earnings release, Pastore said Monster is in a good position to capitalize on the growth in the “high-growth interactive market” and cited the growth in the company’s international business as another strength.
Monster forecasted earnings for the quarter of $290 million to $298 million on earnings of 32 cents to 33 cents per share. Revenue for the year will be $1.108 billion to $1.116 billion with profit between $1.18 and $1.19. Wall Street analysts expected profit of 34 cents for the quarter and $1.22 for the year, according to Thomson Financial. Revenue for the quarter was seen at $295 million and $1.13 billion for the year.

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