TrueCar’s third-quarter loss narrows as revenue jumps 28%
TrueCar Inc., the struggling online car-shopping portal, said Thursday that its third-quarter loss narrowed from a year earlier on a 28% jump in revenue.
That led the Santa Monica company to slightly raise its financial projections for the year. TrueCar also said its users bought a record 208,034 vehicles in the third quarter, a 21% increase from a year earlier.
The results were a bit of good news for TrueCar, which has been grappling with financial losses, litigation and the abrupt decision in August by its founder, Scott Painter, to step down as chief executive by the end of the year.
“I’m very pleased with the third quarter,” Mike Guthrie, TrueCar’s chief financial officer and interim chief operating officer, said in an interview. “The team executed really well this quarter.”
The results were released after TrueCar’s stock fell 50 cents, or 7.5%, to $6.13 a share in normal trading Thursday. After the announcement, the stock jumped to $6.84 a share in after-hours trading.
TrueCar’s website helps consumers shop for and price cars from about 10,000 dealers in its network. TrueCar takes a $299 cut from each new-car transaction and $399 for used vehicles.
The company said it lost $11.1 million in the third quarter, compared with a $13.6-million loss a year earlier.
This year’s loss also was narrower than expected by Wall Street analysts, whose consensus forecast was a loss $15.3 million, according to FactSet Research Systems Inc.
TrueCar’s third-quarter revenue rose to $72.4 million from $56.8 million.
The company now estimates its full-year revenue will reach $260.2 million to $261.7 million, compared with its prior forecast of $252 million to $258 million.
Guthrie said the search for Painter’s successor continues, but he declined to elaborate on potential candidates.
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