AOL Earnings Show Surprising Strength Below Headline Numbers

On a GAAP basis, AOL reported EPS of $0.02. The company does not report adjusted EPS, choosing instead to tally the one-time impacts that affected earnings. In the third quarter, these impacts included $19 million in restructuring costs, $29 million in asset impairments and write-offs (some $25 million was related to the company’s Patch operations), $11.8 million in equity-based compensation expense and a tax benefit of $16.7 million. All told, the impact per diluted share totaled $0.53 in the third quarter, compared with a $0.10 impact in the same period a year ago.

We will have to wait for the conference call for any guidance, but the consensus estimate for the fourth quarter calls for EPS of $0.51 on revenues of $642.14 million. For the full year, the estimate for EPS is $1.52 on revenues of $2.27 billion. The full-year EPS estimate has risen by $0.06 a share since the end of the second quarter. The revenue estimate is also somewhat higher.

The company’s CEO said:

The Q3 results highlight the strength of AOL’s strategy and the consistent execution of our team in delivering great consumer experiences and successful customer results.

Revenue in AOL’s membership group — the company’s largest revenue generator — fell 7% year-over-year, while the brand group (with properties like AOL.com and Huffington Post) saw a 9% jump in revenues. The membership group’s adjusted operating income fell 4%. The brand group posted adjusted operating income of $10.9 million, far better than the $9.6 million loss it posted in the third quarter of 2012.

AOL’s domestic subscriber base fell by 13% year-over-year and 3% sequentially, and the company’s subscription revenue fell from $173.5 million a year ago to $161.6 million. AOL’s acquisition of ad network Adap.tv was completed in mid-September and contributed $17.6 million to 32% growth in the company’s third-party network group.

AOL shares were trading up about 4% in the premarket Tuesday to $40.29. The stock’s 52-week range is $29.16 to $43.93. The consensus target price for the shares was around $42.80 before this report.