UPDATE: Monster Worldwide Posts Upbeat Q4 Earnings, Sales Miss Estimates

reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and announced its plans to lay off 300 employees. The New York-based company reported a quarterly net loss of $289.7 million, or $3.31 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $20.1 million, or $0.21 per share. Excluding non-recurring items, the company's adjusted earnings came in at $0.07 per share. Its revenue fell 6% to $186.2 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.06 per share on revenue of $192.6 million. Revenue from the company's Careers - North America operations slipped 4% y/y, while revenue from Careers - International dropped 9%. Internet Advertising & Fees revenue fell to $16 million from $18 million. For the first quarter, Monster Worldwide projects adjusted earnings of $0.05 to $0.09 per share, versus analysts' estimates of $0.07 per share. Tim Yates , President and Chief Executive Officer said, "We are fully committed to delivering on the metrics we presented at our May 2014 Investor Conference and are making good progress on all of them. We are announcing a program designed to Reallocate maximum resources to our current Go To Market growth strategy. We believe this will Accelerate client adoption of our products and drive growth and profitability. The 'Reallocate to Accelerate' plan is anticipated to reduce annual operating expense by $38 million to $45 million and will cost $18 million to $23 million . We remain focused on improving profitability and plan to exit 2015 with a fourth quarter EBITDA margin of 18-22% and remain on target to achieving a 30-35% EBITDA margin by the second quarter of 2016." Monster Worldwide shares fell 2.60% to close at $4.50 yesterday.