AOL Inc., the publisher of the Huffington Post and TechCrunch websites, swung to a third- quarter profit on stronger advertising sales.
Net income totaled $20.8 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with a loss of $2.6 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was 34 cents, beating the 29-cent average of analysts estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Since separating from Time Warner Inc. in 2009 Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong has worked to transform AOL from an Internet services provider into ad-based content company. Global advertising rose 7 percent to $340 million in the quarter, AOL said.
AOL advanced 3 percent to $36.90 at 8:19 a.m. in New York. The stock has more than doubled this year, outperforming Yahoo Inc., Google Inc. and Apple Inc.
Total revenue was unchanged at $531.7 million, the first quarter since the spinoff that AOL didnt post a year-over-year decline. Analysts projected $522 million, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Search advertising increased 7.9 percent to $91.8 million, according to the statement. AOLs advertising network surged 18 percent to $112.8 million. Display advertising fell 1 percent to $135.4 million. International display ads advanced 18 percent, offsetting a 2.6 percent drop in the U.S. portion.
AOLs U.S. advertising business ranks fifth among major competitors behind Google, Yahoo, Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp., according to research firm EMarketer Inc.
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