Shares fall after Pandora Media posts 4Q profit, results miss Street expectations

Shares of Pandora Media Inc. dropped more than 18 percent in after-hours trading Thursday after the music streaming service reported that fourth-quarter revenue and profit were below analysts' expectations.

The Oakland, California-based company reported earnings of $12.3 million, or 6 cents per share, for the fourth quarter. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and amortization costs, came to 18 cents per share.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 19 cents per share.

The music streaming service posted revenue of $268 million in the period, also missing Street forecasts. Analysts expected $277 million, according to Zacks.

Pandora said total listener hours grew 15 percent to 5.20 billion for the fourth quarter of 2014. Active listeners were 81.5 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014, an increase of 7 percent from the same period last year.

For the year, the company reported that its loss narrowed to $30.4 million, or 15 cents per share. Revenue rose to $920.8 million, and total listener hours increased 20 percent to 20.03 billion.

For the current quarter ending in March, Pandora expects revenue in the range of $220 million to $225 million. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $241.6 million.

The company expects full-year revenue in the range of $1.15 billion to $1.17 billion.

Pandora's shares fell $3.41 to $15 in after-hours trading, after slipping 11 cents to $18.41 in regular trading.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on P at http://www.zacks.com/ap/P

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Keywords: Pandora Media, Earnings Report