Stamps, the leading provider of Internet-based postage solutions, yesterday reported impressive financial results for the first quarter of 2012. Also, Stamps said it had hit new record highs in several statistics it uses to track its business.
Stamps sells a wide variety of types of USPS postage, including First Class Mail®, Priority Mail®, Express Mail®, Media Mail®, Parcel Post®, and others. Stamps has mailing and shipping options for any sized business – all that’s needed is an Internet connection and a printer. With Stamps’ line of products and services, you can mail or ship from your home or office 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round; never again enduring a long wait at the Post Office.
Stamps can print the address and postage together, saving you even more time. Its software can integrate with your own billing software, address lists, and word processing applications. Stamps’ customers can receive discounts on regular postal rates and can check on the validity of addresses in order to avoid wasted postage, among other advantages that let you print professional looking mail in less time and at less cost.
Asked to comment on the strong quarterly results, Ken McBride, Stamps.com Chairman and CEO, said, “The first quarter of 2012 was a great quarter for us with strong financial performance and a set of new records across several key customer metrics.”
“For the first quarter we matched our highest year-over-year growth rate in our core PC Postage revenue at 27%, we grew our total non-GAAP operating income by 70%, and we grew our total non-GAAP earnings per share by 41%,” he continued. “In addition, we set quarterly records in many of our key customer metrics including the largest number of new customers ever acquired in our SOHO [small office/home office] business and the largest sequential increase for our total paid customers since we began tracking that metric. We also continued to see strong growth in our enterprise and high volume shipping areas. As a result of the strength across all areas of our business, we raised our 2012 guidance today.”
Other highlights of the company’s first quarter include:
• Core PC Postage revenue was $26.2 million, up 27% from the first quarter of 2011.
• Total revenue was $28.3 million, up 24% compared to the first quarter of 2011.
• PC Postage gross margin was 76.9%.
• GAAP net income was $16.4 million, or $0.95 per fully diluted share. This includes $1.3 million in stock-based compensation expense and a non-cash income tax benefit of $11.9 million.
• Excluding the stock-based compensation expense and non-cash income tax benefit, non-GAAP income from operations was $5.7 million, non-GAAP net income was $5.8 million, and non-GAAP net income per fully diluted share was $0.34.
With its impressive 1Q 2012 results, Stamps currently expects fiscal 2012 total revenue to be in a range of $107.5 to $117.5 million. Last year, Stamps had estimated a lower range of $105 to $115 million. For 2012, the company estimates GAAP net income per share will fall somewhere in the range of $1.80 to $2.00. This estimate includes approximately $4 million of stock-based compensation expense and an $11.9 million non-cash tax benefit.
Stamps expects 2012 net income on a non-GAAP basis per diluted share will come in between $1.35 to $1.55, excluding stock-based compensation expense and the non-cash tax benefit. Previously, the company had expected 2012 non-GAAP EPS to be in the ballpark of $1.25 to $1.45 per fully diluted share, about 6% less than its revised forecast.
Stamps anticipates that income and revenue from its PhotoStamps retail box breakage will not be material for 2012. Had the box breakage income and revenue been excluded from 2011’s results, total revenue would have come in at $99.4 million yielding non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $1.29. Stamps does not expect to invest heavily in its PhotoStamps product until there is material improvement in the economy.
To learn more about the company, visit http://investor.stamps.com
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