Top Performer for Fri: KongZhong (KONG) – Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers | Stock Market News & Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks

Top Performer for Fri: KongZhong (KONG) – Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers

Source: http://www.zacks.com/commentary/11544/Top+Performer+for+Fri%3A+KongZhong+%28KONG%29+-+Zacks+%231+Rank+Top+Performers
Posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 | In Market Commentary, Stocks to Watch

Contributed by: James Giaquinto (http://www.zacks.com/) -

KongZhong Corporation (KONG) is a leading mobile Internet company in China, which puts it in a sweet spot given that country’s growing economy and large, relatively web-savvy population.

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KONG made the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List on Friday with shares that gained approximately 5%. Volume today is around 312,000 shares, which is in the ballpark with the daily average of nearly 317,000.

KONG is part of the Internet Content industry, which we’ve visited quite recently. On Jul 1, Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (SNDA) was the top performer. (SNDA is another Chinese entertainment company, which focuses primarily on web-based video games.) Along with KONG and SNDA, the only other Internet Content company on today’s 227-stock Zacks #1 Rank List is Perfect World Co., Ltd. (PWRD).

Recent Movement in Earnings Estimates

Analysts currently expect earnings per share of 24 cents and 32 cents for this year and next, respectively. Expectations for the year that ends this December are up 60% in the past 2 months, including a gain of a little more than 4% in just the past 7 days.

Meanwhile, next year’s estimate is up 45% in 60 days and 6.6% in the past week. Furthermore, as you can see, analysts currently predict next year’s profit to grow more than 33% on top of this year’s

First-Quarter Results

In mid-May, KONG announced total revenues of $29.6 million, which was up from $21.4 million a year earlier. The result was better than the company’s revenue guidance of $27.5 million to $28.5 million.

Meanwhile, earnings per share easily eclipsed both the year-ago result and the consensus.

“During the quarter, we estimate that KongZhong is now the No. 1 mobile game publisher/developer in the mainland China market based on revenues, as we continued to enhance our in-house development capabilities while expanding our mobile game distribution channels,” said Chairman and CEO Leilei Wang.

KONG expects to announce its second-quarter results in early August. Analysts believe the company earned 6 cents, which is double the guidance from 2 months ago, and a penny, or 20%, better in the past week.

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