Reuters: Global Markets: Monster profit beats, shares jump

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Monster profit beats, shares jump Apr 26th 2012, 16:01 Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:01pm EDT (Reuters) - Online recruitment firm Monster Worldwide Inc (MWW.N) said it remained open to all strategic alternatives as it reported higher-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings, and its shares rose 14 percent. "It's still early in this process and together with our board and advisers we are aggressively pursuing all alternatives," Chief Executive Sal Iannuzzi said on a conference call, adding he would not take questions on the process. Iannuzzi said last month he was open to selling all or part of the company and Monster has drawn considerable interest. Monster shares were up $1.19 to $9.35 in midday trading. The parent of the jobs website Monster.com reported a quarterly net profit of $3.7 million in the first quarter, or 3 cents a share, down for $78,000, or nil per share, a year ago. Excluding restructuring costs and the recovery of a restitution award from a former executive, earnings of 4 cents a share were 2 cents ahead of Wall Street estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Sales of $246 million were ahead of forecasts of $240.5 million. Monster said second-quarter revenue would be down because of Europe's economic weakness. Its profit forecast of 4 cents to 8 cents a share brackets analyst estimates for a 6-cent profit. In January, Monster had said it did not expect the global job market to improve drastically in the near-term and cut about 7 percent of its global workforce. "It's not reminiscent of what happened in 2008, 2009, but every country in Europe has slowed down," Iannuzzi said, adding Monster's U.S. market was not showing signs of significant improvement. The company could significantly cut marketing spending if it needs to, but doing so could hurt its long-term prospects, the CEO said. (Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore and Nick Zieminski in New York; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Leslie Gevirtz) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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