Acxiom quarterly earnings up 134%

Acxiom Corp. reported improved first quarter earnings results on Wednesday, mainly on the strength of its companywide cost-cutting program and better operational efficiencies.

“I am pleased with our performance this quarter. Despite uneven economic recovery, we recorded solid year-over-year revenue growth of approximately six percent," said John Meyer, Acxiom’s CEO and president. "This increased operating leverage reflects the actions we undertook over the past two years to improve cost and performance efficiencies in our business.”

For the period ended June 30, Acxiom’s first quarter earnings jumped to $9.81 million, compared to $4.19 million a year ago.  That computes to first quarter earnings of 12 cents per share, up 140% from five cents a year ago. Net income from operations grew to $22.1 million, up 76.7% from $12.5 million in the first quarter of the prior year.

Overall, Acxiom said revenue increased by 5.6% in the current quarter to $270.4 million, compared to $256.0 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. Wall Street analysts, on average, expected the Little Rock-based data provider to report first quarter earnings of 11 cents per share on revenue of $271 million.

Additionally, Acxiom reported operating cash flow of $17.0 million compared to $16.2 million in the first quarter a year ago.

The company primarily provides interactive marketing services, that include consumer data and analytics, information technology, data integration, and consulting solutions for marketing across digital, Internet, email, mobile and direct mail channels. The company employs more than 6,300 around the world.

Acxiom executives will hold a conference call today 10 am (CST) to discuss its first quarter results. The company’s shares closed Tuesday at $15.28, well off its 52-week high of $19.99.