Acxiom expecting to see lower first-quarter earnings.(Public Company Reports)(Financial report)

Acxiom Corp. said it expects earnings of between 3 cents and 7 cents a share and revenue of between $245 million and $255 million during the first quarter of its fiscal 2010.

The projection, for the quarter that ends June 30, falls considerably short of the Little Rock data-mining company's performance during the same quarter last year. Last year, Acxiom reported first-quarter earnings of 14 cents a share on revenue of $331.1 million.

Depending on how the chips fall, Acxiom could experience a revenue decline of between 23 percent and 26 percent and an earnings drop of between 50 percent and 76 percent.

"The outlook for revenue in the near term remains challenging," CEO John Meyer said in a news release. "We continue to feel the effects of market consolidation, as welt as clients continuing to defer decisions on their marketing spending or canceling programs, both of which have an effect on our revenue and our ability to estimate revenue."

Meyer added, "We remain diligent in our cost control measures and our focus on new business opportunities."

In its earnings call, Meyer said Acxiom's pipeline is "robust." However, Meyer said, "What is concerning is turning this pipeline into revenue."

Meyer said many marketing clients have delayed decisions, causing significant shortfalls in Acxiom's numbers. That issue paired with industry consolidation hurt the company's financial performance for the quarter.

The company did say, though, that the client consolidation should be over. "Everyone going away, we think, is gone," Meyer said.

Another damaging element, Acxiom said, was that some of its clients had shed parts of their business from which Acxiom derived revenue.

Print Get the Mag Weekly Updates