CHARLOTTE — Tree.com Inc. (TREE), the corporate parent of Lending Tree, on Tuesday reported first-quarter profit of $13.5 million. The news follows company layoffs in early April and cuts made last fall.
“During the first quarter we completed a strategic expense reduction that impacted 13% of our workforce. The plan targeted parts of our business that are more capital intensive, as well as those areas where the revenue outlook has become less certain in light of the challenging economic environment,” said Doug Lebda, Chairman and CEO.
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“We have also completed our transition from an annual to a quarterly strategic planning cadence. Combined with our cross-functional team support for each of our discrete growth initiatives, we are better able to focus our employees and resources on the projects we believe are most important to deliver on our goal of creating the best-in-class consumer experience, as well as improved financial performance.”
Added CFO Trent Ziegler: “The series of steps we have taken to right-size our fixed costs over the last two quarters will allow us to generate improved operating leverage as demand from our partners eventually recovers. In the interim, running the business more efficiently will help improve our immediate financial performance and streamline our ability to execute on our targeted growth opportunities.”
On a per-share basis, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said it had profit of $1.04. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 25 cents per share.
The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 7 cents per share.
The mortgage lending service provider posted revenue of $200.5 million in the period, which did not meet Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $207.4 million.
For the current quarter ending in June, Tree.com said it expects revenue in the range of $190 million to $200 million.
The company expects full-year revenue in the range of $760 million to $800 million.
