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Not to miss out on a national ad opportunity, Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) will play two commercials on Super Sunday. One has a feel-good theme and another is an attempt to get users to the site.
But, as for investors, there's not much to be festive about. In Q4, Monster's revenues fell 16% to $291 million. Net income fell 37% to $28.6 million, or $0.24 per share.
True, about 44% of revenues come from overseas. Unfortunately, the economic slowdown is also making waves in Europe and Asia.
To bolster its competitive advantage, Monster recently launched its new job seeker experience website (in 24 countries). Essentially, it's a destination for career management, providing advice and helpful resources. And, in the current environment, there might be some traction -- yet, it's still a big bet. After all, Monster will need to invest significant marketing dollars.
In fact, based on the earnings conference call, Monster's strategy is to capitalize on the current economic downturn, such as by taking market share and making strategic investments (the company has a large hoard of cash). No doubt, this is admirable and may payoff.
But, investors are definitely skittish right now. And it's far from certain when the economy will comeback. Besides, if the employment picture continues to worsen, it seems inevitable that there will be material declines in Monster's revenues over the next couple quarter. In other words, there's probably still lots of risk in the stock.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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