NetCreations Cuts Q4 Estimates

NetCreations Wednesday warned investors that it will likely post a loss for its fourth quarter earnings, spoiling Wall Street’s expectations of a profit for the e-mail marketer.

Analysts had predicted the Silicon Alley firm e-mail marketer would post earnings of $0.11 per share. But the company said it would either break even or post per-share earnings of $0.02 — before one-time charges. After charges, the company said it would likely post losses of $0.04 to $0.06 per share.

NetCreations also said it anticipates net quarterly revenue in the range of $12 million to $14 million, roughly what it posted last quarter.

Company executives pointed to the continued dearth in dot-com ad spending, and also said NetCreations has yet to see a surge in e-mail marketing spending expected to come in conjunction with the holiday season

“NetCreations still faces many of the same challenges that the vast majority of Internet advertising and marketing companies experienced during the third quarter,” said NetCreations chairman and chief executive officer Rosalind Resnick.

In September, the company warned Wall Street about another revenue shortfall and named a new chief financial officer, but was able to meet lowered expectations. At the time of its Q3 posting, it said it expected pressure on dot-com advertisers to continue affecting Q4 and FY2001 earnings.

“The marketplace continues to be a challenging one in which to operate,” said Resnick, “and, as such, our revenues and earnings to date have been adversely affected by the decline in marketing-related expenditures associated with our e-commerce companies and other dot-com customers.”

NetCreations is slated to complete its merger with industry giant DoubleClick in fourth quarter. Executives from the ad network and technogy firm haven’t commented on how NetCreations’ revised estimates will effect their Q4 and 2001 outlook, but said earlier that they will release estimates once the merger is complete.

At press time, shares of NTCR were down 1.04 percent on the news, trading at $5.94.