Health information provider WebMD Health Corp. reported a significant fourth-quarter earnings increase as well as a strong bottom line for all of 2014 as rising site traffic drove higher advertising revenue for the year.
Net income for the three months ended Dec. 31 hit $16.3 million, up 50.5% from $10.8 million reported the same period the prior year. Quarterly revenues were $162.7 million, up 11.2% from $146.3 million the year prior.
Results for fiscal 2014 were even more dramatic. The company reported $42.1 million in earnings, up 178.3% from $15.1 million the year prior. Revenues were $580.4 million, up 12.6% from $515.3 million in 2013. Earnings and revenues beat analysts' expectations.
The New York-based company saw rising revenue from advertising and sponsorships, information services and private health portal services. Mobile device advertising accounted for 34% of the company's revenue in 2014, CEO Dave Schlanger said in a statement.
Traffic on WebMD's websites, which include WebMD.com, Medscape.com and others, reached an average of 190 million unique users per month in the fourth quarter, up 22% from the same period the year before. A total of 3.7 billion pages were viewed on the site, up 17% from the year before.
The company expects net income for the 2015 fiscal year to fall between $50.5 million and $59.5 million, on revenues between $615 million and $635 million.
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