OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? Internet radio company Pandora Media Inc. posted a thin third-quarter profit Tuesday as it reported earnings as a public company for the first time. But its outlook for the current quarter was weaker than expected and its shares fell in extended trading.
Pandora reported third-quarter net income of $638,000, or break-even per share, compared with a loss of $1.8 million, or 15 cents a share, a year ago.
Its adjusted net income, excluding stock-based compensation, amounted to 2 cents a share in the latest quarter. That was better than the adjusted penny-per-share loss expected by analysts polled by FactSet.
Pandora’s revenue surged 99 percent to $75 million from $37.7 million a year ago. That also beat the $71.4 million expected by analysts.
But the company said it expects a fourth-quarter adjusted loss of 2 cents to 4 cents per share, weaker than the average 2 cents per share loss seen by analysts. It expects revenue in the current quarter of $80 million to $84 million, with the midpoint in line with the $82.1 million expected by analysts.
Its shares fell 54 cents, or 4.6 percent, to $11.31 in after-hours trading Tuesday, after closing down 67 cents, or 5.4 percent, at $11.85 in the regular session.
Pandora went public in June at $16 per share. It is among a string of high-profile technology start-ups that went public this year, including LinkedIn Corp. in May, and Groupon Inc. and Angie’s List Inc. earlier this month. Among companies that have filed to go public but haven’t yet are game maker Zynga Inc. and review site Yelp Inc. Facebook is expected to shake up markets by going public next year.
Pandora’s listening time doubled to 2.1 billion hours during the quarter, compared to a year ago, as the Oakland-based company said its share of the U.S. Internet radio market grew to 66 percent from 53 percent in the second quarter.
CEO Joe Kennedy said Pandora is breaking into areas once solely served by traditional, terrestrial radio.
“Our momentum in transforming the radio industry is stronger than ever,” he said.