John
John Clendening

Blucora, the Bellevue company formerly known as InfoSpace which is pushing heavily into financial services, posted strong results Thursday as a transformation continues under the direction of newly-appointed CEO and former Charles Schwab & Co. executive John S. Clendening.

First quarter revenue rose five percent to $165.8 million, while net income jumped 23 percent to $22.7 million.

Shares of the company jumped about 18 percent on the news, giving Blucora a market value of more than $300 million. Shares were trading around $7.25 Thursday morning.

In addition to the boost in net income, Blucora said it retired more than $65 million in deb during the quarter.

“Lowering our net leverage ratio and highlighting the Company’s growth, predictable profit generation and strong free cash flow conversion,” said Eric Emans, chief financial officer and treasurer of Blucora in a press release. “Debt repayment will remain the top priority for our capital allocation strategy throughout this year and into 2017.”

Blucora also is no longer reporting revenue for its InfoSpace search business, classifying its search, content and e-commerce businesses as “discontinued operations.”

Clendening said that Blucora — which operates the TaxAct online tax preparation business and HD Vest Financial Services business — continues to execute on a “strategic transformation into a technology-enabled financial solutions company.”

Last year, Blucora paid $580 million for Texas-based HD Vest, following its 2012 purchase of TaxAct. The company cut 10 percent of its workforce in its InfoSpace unit last summer.

For the full year 2016, Blucora said it expects revenues between $452 million and $465.5 million, and adjusted EBITDA to be between $90 million and $94 million.

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