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Priceline beats forecasts
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January 27, 2000: 7:11 a.m. ET
Narrows 4Q loss more than expected, projects $1B in sales in 2000
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Priceline.com, the Internet auction site, narrowed its losses more than expected in the fourth quarter and raised revenue estimates for 2000 Thursday.
The company said that based on business so far this year it expects to have revenue of $1 billion in 2000, more than double the 1999 revenue.
Priceline -- which offers airline tickets, groceries and other goods -- posted a loss before special charges of $10 million, or 6 cents a diluted share. Analysts surveyed by First Call had been expecting an 8-cent loss in the period.
In the fourth quarter of 1998, the company had a loss before special charges of $12.7 million, or 14 cents a share.
The biggest special charge was $910.4 million in warrant costs in the quarter. Including that and other special charges and items, net loss for the fourth quarter was $921.5 million, or $5.91 a diluted share, compared with a net loss of $75.9 million, or 81 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter was $169.2 million, almost 9 times the $19 million it posted a year earlier.
For the year, the company's loss before charges came to $52.5 million, or 39 cents a diluted share, compared with a loss before charges of $44.4 million, or 55 cents a diluted share, in 1998.
Including special charges and items, reported net loss for the year was $1.1 billion, or $7.90 a diluted share, compared with $114.4 million, or $1.41 a share, in 1998.
Revenue for the year reached $482.4 million, compared with $59.4 million in 1998.
Shares of Priceline.com (PCLN) rose 3-15/16 to 66-1/4 in trading Wednesday. 
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