Etsy Posts First Quarterly Profit Since Going Public

Etsy Inc. reported a quarterly profit for the first time since its April 2015 initial public offering, as growth in users and revenue remained strong.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., company, which runs an online marketplace for handmade and vintage goods, said revenue rose 40% to $81.8 million, outpacing fourth-quarter growth of 35%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected $75 million.

Shares rose 7.3% to $9.01 in after-hours trading, though they are still sharply below the company's IPO price of $16.

Marketing costs, a factor in Etsy's losses in recent years, rose 30% to $15.8 million. "We began to gain leverage in our marketing expenses, which grew more slowly than revenue," the company said.

Etsy makes money charging fees to sellers of such items as jewelry, housewares and T-shirts for use of its online platform. It is facing fresh competition from Amazon.com, which in October launched a new section called Handmade and directly recruited Etsy sellers.

For the quarter ended March 31, Etsy earned $1.2 million, or a penny a share, compared with a loss of $36.6 million, or 84 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected a loss of 2 cents a share.

Write to Josh Beckerman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2016 17:25 ET (21:25 GMT)

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