Acxiom 4th-quarter profit falls 26 percent as revenue inches down, beats Street estimates

Acxiom 4Q profit falls 26 percent, beats Street

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Information technology and marketing consulting company Acxiom Corp. on Thursday said its net income for the latest quarter fell 26 percent from a year ago.

Acxiom earned $16.6 million, or 21 cents per share, in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended March 31. In the same quarter last year, it earned $22.5 million, or 29 cents per share.

When excluding certain items, Acxiom earned 19 cents per share in the latest quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who generally exclude one-time items from their estimates, expected a profit of 17 cents per share.

Revenue fell 2.4 percent to $288.3 million from $295.5 million. However, some of the difference was due to a change in accounting for a renegotiated contract. Excluding that change, revenue was flat from a year ago.

Shares of Acxiom fell 6 cents to $19.39 in afternoon trading.

For the full 2010 fiscal year, Acxiom earned $44.5 million, or 56 cents per share, compared to $37.5 million, or 48 cents per share, in the previous fiscal year.

Revenue totaled $1.1 billion, compared with $1.28 billion in fiscal 2009.