Tickets.com Loss Larger Than Expected

Tickets.com Inc., weighed down by one-time acquisition, marketing and infrastructure costs, reported a larger-than-expected loss of $21.6 million, or 37 cents a share, for the first three months of the year. Monday’s news sent its stock skidding to close down 13 cents at $2.31, the lowest level since the Costa Mesa-based ticket seller went public Nov. 3. The quarterly loss is more than three times the $6 million in red ink that flowed in the same period last year. On a per-share basis, it lost 95 cents in last year’s first quarter as a privately held company. Sales more than doubled to $14.1 million from $6.6 million. The latest loss was 2 cents a share more than analysts had predicted. Shares have dropped almost 84% this year, hurt by a market-wide shakeout among Internet retailers and a feud with industry behemoth Ticketmaster Corp. Analysts, however, said the company’s strong sales growth, bolstered by customers’ increasing acceptance of online buying, should help the Orange County fledgling remain a viable challenger.