Investing.com -- Shares in Truecar Inc (O:TRUE) plummeted more than 16% in after-hours trading after the automotive information site failed to meet analysts' expectations with its fourth-quarter revenues and earnings on Thursday afternoon.
During the company's fourth quarter of 2014, which ended in late-December, TrueCar reported losses of $27.4 million, or 0.33 per share, down from earnings of $9.8 million or 0.13 per share over the same period a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share, excluding one-time items, came in at a loss of 0.06, below analysts' forecasts of 0.04. While the Santa Monica, California-based company saw its revenues increase by 15% to $63.6 million, they were more than offset by soaring costs, which jumped by 39% during the three-month period to $90.8 million. Analysts expected to see revenues of $65.43 for the quarter.
TrueCar, which has struggled to turn a profit since going public in the Spring, 2014, provides car buyers with information on what other customers have paid for automobiles, upfront pricing, as well as access to a network of certified dealers.
"The period was a difficult one and marked the close of a challenging year," TrueCar CFO Mike Guthrie said in a statement. "We are moving quickly to strengthen our foundation and have made a number of important changes at the senior level of the company. We start from a good base and have a plan in place to make the investments necessary in order to excel over the long term."
In December, the company hired former AutoTrader.com CEO Chip Perry to serve in a similar capacity. At AutoTrader.com, Perry transformed the site from a one-person startup in 1997 to a company with $1.5 billion in revenue, 16 million monthly unique visitors and 3,500 employees.
Last quarter, TrueCar said it had 5.9 million unique visitors, down from 6.6 million over the previous quarter, but up from the 4.4 million total during the same quarter in 2014.
"I took this job because I believe TrueCar can become the clear category winner in the online automotive space over the next few years," Perry said. "We will do this by refining how our marketplace works so that it can provide the best overall value proposition for car buyers, dealers and automakers."
Moving forward, TrueCar anticipates revenues in the range of $270 to $275 million for fiscal year 2016, far below analysts' expectations for sales of $309.8 million.
Shares in TrueCar fell 0.98 or 16.98% to 4.79 in after-hours trading.