TiVo's Bad Numbers TIVO, DISH
TiVo (TIVO) reported earnings, and while revenue grew at a solid pace, the numbers behind the numbers were poor. For the quarter ending April 30, revenue rose 20% to $56.5 million. Operating loss rose to $11.7 million from $1.5 million a year earlier. The company did have significant litigation costs for it IP fight with Echostar (DISH), a case which TiVo has won and is on appeal. Cash and short-term investments dropped $11.8 million to $92.4 million. At that burn rate, the company has less than eight quarters of cash.
TiVo's subscriber base grew to $4.4 million, a 33% increase over the course of the year. However, TiVo-owned gross subscriptions for the quarter were only 91,000 compared to 104,000 in the quarter last year.
Guidance was not hopeful. Fiscal Q2 revenue should be $50 to $53 million with a net loss of $12 to $15 million.
Buried, as bad numbers often are, in the TiVo announcement, were the subscriber acquisition costs. On a per subscriber basis, these rose to $232 in the quarter from $150 in the quarter a year ago, an increase of 55%. For the twelve months ending April 30, the cost per subscriber rose 18% to $218.
With the cost to get new customers rising this sharply, TiVo does not have a catalyst to jump-start its business. And, this has to be troubling to investors.
TiVo trades at about $7.00 on a 52-week high/low of $9.49/$4.56. With revenue projected to be flat, and rising costs to acquire new customers, the stock is likely to trade down toward the low end of that range.
Douglas A. McIntyre is the former Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Financial World Magazine. He is also the former president of Switchboard.com, which was the 10th most visited site in the world at the time, according to MediaMetrix. He has been chief executive of FutureSource LLC and On2 Technologies, Inc. and has served on the boards of TheStreet.com and Edgar Online. He does not own securities in companies he writes about. He can be reached at douglasamcintyre@gmail.com.
TiVo's subscriber base grew to $4.4 million, a 33% increase over the course of the year. However, TiVo-owned gross subscriptions for the quarter were only 91,000 compared to 104,000 in the quarter last year.
Guidance was not hopeful. Fiscal Q2 revenue should be $50 to $53 million with a net loss of $12 to $15 million.
Buried, as bad numbers often are, in the TiVo announcement, were the subscriber acquisition costs. On a per subscriber basis, these rose to $232 in the quarter from $150 in the quarter a year ago, an increase of 55%. For the twelve months ending April 30, the cost per subscriber rose 18% to $218.
With the cost to get new customers rising this sharply, TiVo does not have a catalyst to jump-start its business. And, this has to be troubling to investors.
TiVo trades at about $7.00 on a 52-week high/low of $9.49/$4.56. With revenue projected to be flat, and rising costs to acquire new customers, the stock is likely to trade down toward the low end of that range.
Douglas A. McIntyre is the former Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Financial World Magazine. He is also the former president of Switchboard.com, which was the 10th most visited site in the world at the time, according to MediaMetrix. He has been chief executive of FutureSource LLC and On2 Technologies, Inc. and has served on the boards of TheStreet.com and Edgar Online. He does not own securities in companies he writes about. He can be reached at douglasamcintyre@gmail.com.
posted by douglas mcintyre at 9:27 AM
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