Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Troy Mastin, William Blair & Co.
Troy Mastin, William Blair & Co.
Good morning. Thanks and nice quarter. I wanted to first ask about the guidance you've given for the fourth quarter. Looking at where you were last year and assuming that you've got an offset between Easter and the Renaissance sale: the guidance would imply 3% to 11% revenue growth, but it certainly sounds like you're tracking towards the higher end of that range, at least what you have seen so far this year.
I'm guessing the answer is that you want to wait to see how Mother's Day plays out before you would say anything more bullish about the business, but could you give perspective on that 3% to 11% revenue range if that indeed is correct?
Carrie Wolfe
Yes, your calculation is correct. I think certainly we feel very good about Valentine's Day and are seeing the trends continuing into Easter. Mother's Day is a significant holiday. I think we are remaining, to your point, a little bullish, and once we get past Mother's Day, we will be putting out a release with updated guidance based on our Mother's Day results.
Troy Mastin, William Blair & Co.
Okay great. Thanks. Mike had mentioned that he was positive about what had changed for Valentine's Day and Easter. Could you talk about what, specifically, you've done in the first few months of this year with regards to marketing? If anything has drastically changed versus where you were at the end of December when you had seen irrational behavior in the search engine marketplace, at least. And if things changed there above and beyond simply the pricing strategies of some of your peers?
Michael Soenen
I'm not going to get too into it obviously for competitive reasons, especially two weeks before my number one holiday. A large chunk of it was the fact that I swapped out some people on the team, which I thought made for a better mindset.
I think we've been more aggressive in the non-pure search world in some of those verticals and we have been generating some really great yields there. I think we've found better ways to hedge our exposure to the volatility in the online market space in terms of search.
I'm not saying that risks don't exist there. I'm not saying the things can't get pricey there. We'll have to keep a close eye on it, but clearly, the newer mindset and some of our new approaches have really demonstrated a pretty strong turnaround from December, both in terms of top line while maintaining a lot of our profitability.
- To read the full transcript on Seeking Alpha, click here »
