LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. — DealerTrack Holdings recently reported financial results for the fourth quarter and the whole of 2011, showing close to a 50-percent revenue rise this past year. And the company expects this growth to continue into 2012.

For this past year, revenue came in at $353.3 million, as compared to $243.8 million for 2010. And GAAP net income for the year showed a considerable rise as well over 2010’s losses.

GAAP net income for the year was $65.1 million, as compared to a GAAP net loss of $27.8 million for 2010, officials stated.

Furthermore, diluted GAAP net income per share for the year was $1.53, as compared to a GAAP net loss of $(0.69) per share for 2010.

Giving some background on these results, officials shared that “GAAP net income for 2011 was positively impacted by a $26.8 million (net of tax), or $0.63 per share, non-cash gain related to the sale of ALG and a $25.1 million, or $0.59 per share, non-cash tax benefit related to a reversal in the valuation allowance against the company's net U.S. deferred tax assets including disposed deferred tax liabilities.

“GAAP net income for 2010 was negatively impacted by a $28.4 million, or $0.70 per share, non-cash tax expense related to an increase in the valuation allowance against the company's net U.S. deferred tax assets,” they added.

And moving on to cover non-GAAP results for this past year, these showed significant climbs as well.

In fact, adjusted EBITDA for the year was $74.4 million, as compared to $42.1 million for 2010. And including the add-back of stock-based compensation expense, adjusted EBITDA was $85.9 million in 2011, compared to $53.3 million in 2010, officials explained.

And adjusted net income for the year almost doubled, coming in at $43.4 million, as compared to $21.9 million for 2010.

Lastly, diluted adjusted net income per share for the year was $1.02, as compared to $0.53 per share for 2010, officials concluded.

Commenting on the results, Mark O'Neil, chairman and chief executive officer of DealerTrack, said, "We are pleased with our strong continued year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter, capping what was an excellent year for DealerTrack. Over the course of 2011 we made significant progress in increasing the number of transactions processed by DealerTrack and average transaction revenue per car sold.

“This progress was further impacted by healthy auto credit and car sales trends throughout the year. Our subscription business continues to grow, and we believe we have considerable opportunities to expand our average monthly subscription spend per dealer. In our view, we are entering 2012 in a very strong position to continue to grow revenue at a multiple of auto industry growth, and to improve profitability margins while continuing to invest in long-term growth opportunities,” he continued. 

Fourth-Quarter Results

And in reporting its results for the fourth quarter of this past year, the company noted that revenue came in at $91.3 million, as compared to $62.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2010.

And GAAP net income saw a slight rise, as well.

GAAP net income for the quarter was $32.9 million, as compared to a GAAP net loss of ($26.4) million for the fourth quarter of 2010.

And diluted GAAP net income per share for the quarter was $0.76, as compared to a GAAP net loss of ($0.65) for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Officials explained “GAAP net income for the fourth quarter 2011 was positively impacted by a $26.8 million (net of tax), or $0.62 per share, non-cash gain related to the sale of ALG and a $2.8 million, or $0.06 per share, non-cash tax benefit related to a reversal in the valuation allowance against the company's net U.S. deferred tax assets including disposed deferred tax liabilities.

“GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter 2010 was negatively impacted by a $28.4 million, or $0.70 per share, non-cash tax expense related to an increase in the valuation allowance against the company's net U.S. deferred tax assets,” they continued.

And as for non-GAAP results, Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $17.4 million, as compared to $14.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2010.

And including the add-back of stock-based compensation expense, adjusted EBITDA was $20.3 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $17.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2010.

And net income jumped up to $10.3 million, as compared to $7.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2010. 

Diluted adjusted net income per share for the quarter was $0.24, as compared to $0.19 for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Predictions for 2012

After reporting the results for this past year, DealerTrack offered revenue and GAAP and non-GAAP earnings guidance for the full year 2012.

Revenue for the year is expected to be between $365.0 million and $372.0 million, representing approximately 13 percent to 15 percent growth on a pro forma basis after adjusting 2011 revenue to reflect the dispositions of Chrome and ALG, officials explained.

And GAAP net income is predicted to be between $33.0 million and $36.0 million.

Lastly, Diluted GAAP net income per share for the year is expected to be between $0.75 and $0.81.

And as for the expected non-GAAP results for this year, oncluding the add-back of stock-based compensation expense of approximately $13.0 million, adjusted EBITDA for the year is expected to be between $91.0 million and $95.0 million.

And the company’s adjusted net income for the year is expected to be between $44.0 million and $47.0 million.

Diluted adjusted net income per share for the year is expected to be between $0.99 and $1.06.

“Diluted GAAP net income and adjusted net income per share guidance for the year is based on an estimated 44.3 million diluted weighted average shares outstanding.  The guidance assumes that new car sales by franchised dealers will be approximately 13.5 million units and used car sales by franchised dealers will be approximately 14.0 million units for 2012,” officials concluded.