Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) rose 1.16 to 6.62 after the broadband service provider said it ended the year with approximately 2.95 million subscribers, up from 2.313 million at the end of the third quarter.
The company said it achieved its goal of 25 to 30 percent growth in its worldwide broadband subscriber base.
The company pointed to its Excite@Home startup kits as a key factor in meeting its sales goals. The program, launched in November through an alliance with Radio Shack, targets customers in markets served by the Comcast cable network.
The "QuickStart" kit, sold through Radio Shack as well as other retailers including Circuit City, CompUSA and Staples, has been the most successful retail product ever for the company, Excite@Home said. The kits sold at a rate of 300 to 400 per day during December, even though availability and demonstration capabilities were limited at first.
The company plans to expand its retail presence and in-store demonstration capabilities by "hundreds of stores" this year. It will also start to offer the QuickStart kit through cable affiliates such as Cox and AT&T.
The company reported a third-quarter loss before extraordinary items of US$41.6 million, or 10 cents per share, compared with a loss of $4.2 million, or one cent per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 51 percent to $169.9 million.
At the time, Excite said it expected fourth-quarter revenue to grow
at a "low double-digit rate," with a loss before charges of 8 to 10 cents
per share.
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