1ST PROFIT IN PAST 2 YEARS HOMESTORE EARNS $6 MILLION IN QUARTER.Byline: Brent Brent, outer borough (1991 pop. 226,100) of Greater London, SE England. The area is a rail and industrial center. Its manufactures include automobile parts, clocks and watches, and electrical equipment. Hopkins Hopkins, city (1990 pop. 16,534), Hennepin co., SE Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis; inc. as West Minneapolis 1893, name changed 1928. The city manufactures machinery, computer and electronic parts, steel products, air pollution equipment, ophthalmic lenses, tools, Staff Writer WESTLAKE VILLAGE - Internet portal Homestore Inc. said Wednesday it earned $6 million in the 2004 fourth quarter, its first quarterly profit in nearly two years. The results, equal to 4 cents a share, included a $7.3 million gain on the sale of assets. The company lost $12.1 million, 10 cents a share, in the 2003 fourth quarter. In the final three months of 2004, Homestore reported revenue improved to $54.3 million from $51.9 million in the like period a year ago. The online real estate services company announced a settlement on Monday of a long-standing class action lawsuit class action lawsuit A lawsuit in which one party or a limited number of parties sue on behalf of a larger group to which the parties belong. For example, investors may bring a class action lawsuit against a brokerage firm that has actively promoted a tax that alleged financial misstatements. ``We've now reached a point in the turnaround Turnaround A situation where a company that has had poor performance for an extended period of time experiences a positive reversal. Notes: A speculator may profit from a turnaround if he or she accurately anticipates the improvement of a poorly performing company. where we can talk about our opportunities and successes, rather than our threats and defenses,'' chief financial officer Lew Belote said during a conference call. ``It's refreshing.'' For the full year, the company lost $7.9 million, 6 cents per share Cents per share The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned. , an improvement from a loss of $47.1 million, or 40 cents per share, in 2003. Revenue increased to $216.9 million from $205.9 million in 2003. Chief executive officer Mike Long expects 10 percent or better revenue growth this year. ``It's better than 2004, but still below what we believe is possible when all our business segments are re-positioned,'' he said. While things are looking up for Homestore, analyst Mark Mahaney, managing director of American Technology Research, said that the company would have lost money had it not been for the one-time gain. The quarter showed some improvements, but he said investors will likely see better growth in 2006. ``This company's gone through dramatic restructuring restructuring - The transformation from one representation form to another at the same relative abstraction level, while preserving the subject system's external behaviour (functionality and semantics). , one of the hairiest stories in the dot-com world,'' he said. ``You're better off than a year ago, but it's just modestly better.'' Homestore's shares gained 9 cents to close at $2.49 on Wednesday, then added another 7 cents in late trading Late trading Late trading of mutual fund shares occurs when investors placing trades after 4 PM receive the 4 PM price. These late traders can use the information revealed after 4 PM to guide their trades: buying funds when their current value is greater than their 4 PM value and following the earnings release after the market closed. Brent Hopkins, (818) 713-3738 brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com |
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