Local.com (LOCM)

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 11:28 am

Local.com (NASDAQ: LOCM) is recognized as the largest local search network in the United States. The company provides more than 19 million consumers each month with the most relevant search results for local businesses, products and services on Local.com and 700+ regional media sites. According to Internet research firm comScore, Local.com’s traffic has consistently ranked in the Top 100 U.S. websites.

Recently, the company announced that it has acquired about 14,000 local business advertisers from LiveDeal, Inc. for up to $3.1 million in cash. This acquisition brought Local.com’s total number of small business customers to approximately 30,000, more than half way to its stated goal of 50,000 by the end of this year. Excluding one-time acquisition related charges, the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive and yield a significant margin contribution.

Despite the downturn in the economy, Local.com reported 78% growth in revenue for full year 2008 when compared to the revenue generated in 2007. The company’s growth strategy for the future includes growing the volume of visitors to Local.com via search engine marketing, search engine optimization, syndication and repeat usage. Local.com also intends to continue developing new products for advertisers and enhance its many local search technologies.

The total volume of online advertising in the United States is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18 percent to approximately $26 billion in 2010. This growth rate should accelerate even further as many large businesses begin expanding their marketing budget to include online advertising to reach today's computer-capable audiences. With local search advertising growth anticipated to outperform other forms of online advertising, Local.com is well positioned to capitalize on this rapid growth.