Financial Performance Scorecard, Second Quarter 2004: The Surge Carries Over Into Mid-Year
The first quarter 2004 surge in revenue growth and profitability in the Outsell 100SM carried over into the second quarter. Total revenue is up 14.6 percent over the same quarter last year, down only slightly from the surprisingly high 15.5 percent in the first quarter. The ratio of revenue gainers to losers is still very high at 86:14. These are dot-com-ish levels of growth not seen since 2000, but this time built on solid fundamentals, not on hype. This Briefing identifies winners and losers in the Outsell 100, and the underlying trends and success factors. The Outsell 100 Performance Scorecard is led by young companies; none of the Top 10 existed 10 years ago. InfoSpace, Corporate Executive Board, Ask Jeeves, FindWhat.com, and Apollo Group comprise the top five. Nine companies repeated their positions in the Bottom 10, including the five lowest-ranked companies, Comtex, New Horizons, Franklin Covey, Cadmus, and Penton. All sectors showed gains, with General Aggregators, Distributors & Services companies leading the way on revenue growth. The trends show that Internet search and online marketing are the industry's largest stimulus right now, but 50 percent of the Top 10 also depend on paid content and fees. Organic growth, not acquisitions, was responsible for the explosive growth in seven of the Top 10 companies. Bottom 10 characteristics that industry companies should avoid include: commoditized service businesses (Comtex, Cadmus, Source Interlink, and Medialink) and overzealous debt-funded acquisitions (Penton and Primedia). The Briefing includes overall rankings, rankings by segment, and analysis of each company's growth, operating income margin, cash, and market capitalization.
