Points International (PCOM) Reports Q4 Loss, Highest Revenue Estimate

Points International (PCOM) came out with a quarterly loss of $0.05 per share versus the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.14. For comparison, a year earlier earnings per share were $0.20. These numbers have been adjusted for one-off items.

This quarterly report presented an earnings surprise of 64.29%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this loyalty technology provider would post a loss of $0.08 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.19, delivering a surprise of -137.50%.

The company has topped consensus EPS estimates three times over the last four quarters.

Points International, which belongs to the Zacks Internet – Content industry, posted revenues of $56.36 million for the quarter ended December 2020, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 15.37%. For comparison, revenues from a year ago were $107 million. Over the last four quarters, the company has topped consensus revenue estimates only once.

The sustainability of the immediate share price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will largely depend on management’s commentary on the earnings call.

Points International shares are up about 9.9% year-to-date compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 3%.

What’s next for Points International?

While Points International has outperformed the market this year, the question that comes to investors’ minds is: what’s next for the stock?

There are no simple answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this issue is the company’s earnings prospects. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Prior to the earnings release, estimate revision trends for Points International were mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions may change following the company’s just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. Therefore, the company’s stock is expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the next quarters and the current fiscal year change in the coming days. The current consensus EPS estimate is -$0.11 on revenue of $48.47M for the coming quarter and -$0.04 on revenue of $286.55M for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be aware that the outlook for the industry may also have a significant impact on share prices. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Internet Content is currently in the bottom 37% of the 250+ Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

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