By Daniel James Hayden IV, Benzinga Staff Writer

Overstock.com (OSTK) shocked investors Friday by announcing an unexpected quarterly loss and plummeting revenue.

The online retailer reported a fourth-quarter loss of $3.4 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with a profit of $14.9 million, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier. More worrying than the unexpected loss was a huge drop in revenue to $314.1 million from $348.9 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of 45 cents per share on revenue of $377.6 million.

The company blamed much of its poor performance on a dispute with Internet search giant Google (GOOG). Last year, Google punished the company for not complying with Google's search guidelines. Overstock.com made changes to conform to Google's rules, and Google let it out of the penalty box last April.

"During this penalty period, we dropped significantly in some Google natural search result rankings," the company said. It was able to offset some -- but not all -- of the revenue hit by spending more in other marketing channels.

That's not all. While Overstock.com was getting less traffic from Google, the company was hurt by an ill-advised attempt to rebrand itself from Overstock.com to O.co. That's not a typo. It actually wanted the name O.co. The company said that it lost revenue because prospective customers had a hard time actually finding the company's website. Imagine that.

Well, those increased marketing costs contributed to the unexpected quarterly loss. Now that Overstock.com is back in Google's good graces, it's possible that revenue and profits could shoot back up. However, there's no way for investors to know how much Overstock.com was profiting by bending Google's rules prior to being penalized. If bending Google's rules was a major factor in Overstock's profitability, the company might not be able to recover.

It's also worth noting that Overstock.com saw sales plummet during a time when the American economy seemed to be recovering and brick-and-mortar rivals like Wal-Mart (WMT) and Target (TGT) have been able to increase sales. Traditional retailers have often complained about the advantages that their online counterparts have, such as not having to collect sales taxes in some states. They have worked hard to fend off competition from the likes of Overstock.com and Amazon (AMZN). If Overstock is unable to earn a profit and its sales plunge while other retailers are thriving, its future could be in peril.

Overstock.com shares plunged after the company released its disappointing earnings results, as investors dumped shares. The stock closed Friday down 11% to $6.11 per share on extremely heavy volume.

Investors might do well to stay away from this stock until the company can prove that its success wasn't dependent on bending Google's rules.