Reuters - Photography company Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE:EK - news) posted
a quarterly loss of $1.03 billion on Wednesday after a $900 million
charge related to efforts to transform itself into a provider of
digital products and printing services.
The world's top maker of photographic film also missed analysts'
revenue forecasts as film sales tumbled.
The quarterly loss was the third in a row for Kodak, which has spent
the past two years cutting manufacturing and jobs and making
acquisitions in hopes of beefing up areas such as digital cameras.
"Kodak remains a very complex restructuring story and it is difficult
for investors to track the operational performance of the company,"
said analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research.
Kodak said its quarterly loss amounted to $3.58 a share. In the
year-earlier quarter, it posted a profit of $458 million, or $1.60 a
share.
Several analysts who scrutinized Kodak's earnings statement said they
had calculated that the company earned 20 cents to 23 cents a share
before restructuring and other charges. Analysts' average earnings
forecast was 66 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
The non-cash $900 million charge relates to a write-down of the value
of deferred tax assets, resulting from current and expected future
losses in the United States created by its extensive restructuring.
Third-quarter sales rose 5 percent to $3.55 billion but fell short of
analysts' average forecast of $3.66 billion as compiled by Reuters
Estimates.
Revenue from Kodak's digital business increased 47 percent, but revenue
from traditional products such as photographic film and developing fell
20 percent.
Kodak shares closed on Tuesday at $23.14 on the New York Stock
Exchange. The stock trades at about 12.4 times estimated 2005 earnings,
underperforming the 19.6 percent price-to-earnings ratio of the Dow
Jones U.S. Leisure Goods Index. Over the past three months, Kodak
shares have tumbled 18 percent.
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