April 27 (Reuters) – Shares of Constant Contact Inc
fell as much as 17 percent to a three-month low after the online
marketer forecast second-quarter adjusted profit below
estimates, as the company is still a long way from converting
free users of its Facebook marketing tool to paying customers.
Shares of the company were trading down 14 percent at $24.36
in morning trade on Friday on the Nasdaq.
The company on Thursday forecast second-quarter adjusted
earnings of 14 cents to 15 cents per share on revenue of $61.7
million to $62 million.
Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 19
cents per share on revenue of $61.8 million, according to
Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net additions of paid e-mail customers were hurt in the
quarter as marketing spend was shifted to the launch of
SocialCampaigns, the company’s Facebook marketing tool launched
in January, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Joel Fishbein wrote
in a note.
The company added 45,000 new unique paying customers, flat
from a year ago.
William Blair analyst Laura Lederman reduced her rating on
the stock to “market perform” from “outperform” saying e-mail
subscriber additions could continue to be hurt as the company
pushes social and daily deals.
For the first quarter, adjusted earnings narrowly missed
analyst expectations on higher operating expenses, as the
company spent more on promoting Social Campaigns.
(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Don
Sebastian)
