Sohu logo. (PRNewsFoto/Sohu.com Inc.)

Sohu.com Inc. (Nasdaq: SOHU)

On Monday morning before the market opened, Sohu.com Inc ($SOHU) announced fourth-quarter earnings that missed expectations and sent nosediving in the premarket.

The company announced a net loss of $7.57 per share on $510 million in revenues with
$72 million of it coming from brand advertising revenues and search-related advertising revenues at $247 million.

For the fiscal year 2017, $SOHU had $1.86 billion in revenues which is up 13% compared with 2016.

CEO Comments

Dr. Charles Zhang, Chairman, and CEO of Sohu.com Inc. commented, “We ended 2017 with an eventful quarter. After fourteen years of great effort, our search subsidiary Sogou finally completed a successful U.S. IPO in November. The IPO has strengthened Sogou’s brand and balance sheet and should help us to further expand our market share in China’s search industry while developing advanced AI capabilities. For Sohu Media Portal, we have built a stronger product development team and seen encouraging user metrics of Sohu News App. For Sohu Video, 2017 was a transformative year when we shifted our focus to original content and began to significantly cut spending on traditional TV programs. The initiative should generate meaningful cost savings and narrow the losses in our video business in 2018. On the online game side, in 2017 Changyou benefited from the launch of the mobile game Legacy TLBB and achieved solid year-over-year growth in revenue and adjusted net profit. At the same time, the business has not stopped its efforts in developing multiple new mobile games and diversifying its game portfolio.”

SOHU Technicals

Looking at the 5-minute chart above you can see that shares are sharply down in the premarket with lows currently at $41.50 compared to Friday’s close of $46.31.

Shares are breaking out of a consolidation range which will now act as resistance at $43.50ish with support not coming in till around $40.

Shares will be more volatile than normal so if you are looking to trade this name today make sure to place hard stops and take profits according to your trade plan.