DoubleClick Warns About 3rd Quarter

NEW YORK — DoubleClick Inc. issued a third-quarter warning, as the company posted second-quarter results in line with its reduced outlook.

The online advertising services company is forecasting third-quarter revenue of $96 million to $102 million and a loss from operations of six cents a share. The mean estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call were for a loss of four cents a share on revenue of $108.1 million.

DoubleClick (DCLK) added it isn’t changing its guidance for a second-half loss of nine cents a share. The Thomson Financial/First Call estimate is for a fourth-quarter loss of five cents a share.

Chief Financial Officer Stephen Collins said in a prepared statement, “we will continue to take the necessary actions to effectively manage costs, including headcount reductions, to insure that we meet our earnings goals.”

DoubleClick reported a second-quarter net loss of $37.9 million, or 29 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $22.1 million, or 18 cents a share. Excluding acquisition- and restructuring-related charges, the company said it would have lost $9.5 million, or seven cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss from operations of $3.8 million, or three cents a share.

Revenue fell 20% to $101.9 million.

When the company released its first-quarter results in April, DoubleClick said it expected a loss of between five cents and seven cents a share, on revenue of $100 million to $105 million. Analysts at the time were looking for a second-quarter loss of two cents a share on revenue of $122 million, according to Multex.com.

Revenue was hurt by the downturn in online ad spending and the absence of AltaVista revenue, DoubleClick said in its prepared statement. Its media revenue tumbled 51% to $33.8 million, while its TechSolutions division had a 6.4% rise in revenue to $51.8 million and its data segment saw a 22% jump in revenue to $19.3 million.

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