Restructuring dents Xerox's 4Q earnings
(AP) -- Xerox said its fourth-quarter earnings dipped 5 percent from a year ago, largely due to the costs of restructuring. A tepid outlook and the departure of long-time Chief Financial Officer Lawrence A. Zimmerman sent company shares down 7 percent, leading the S&P 500 lower.
"Investors had a high level of comfort with Larry," JMP Securities analyst Douglas Ireland said. "He's been a very steady hand on the wheel."
Xerox said Wednesday it is poaching the chief financial officer of Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture between Finland's Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG of Germany. Luca Maestri, 47, will replace Zimmerman, 68, when he retires next month.
In the last three months of 2010, Xerox reported earnings of $171 million, or 12 cents per share. That's down from $180 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier.
Xerox has been trimming its work force around the globe after buying outsourcer Affiliated Computer Services last year. Since announcing the $6 billion deal, it has disclosed plans to lay off some 5,000 workers.
Stripping out restructuring and other one-time expenses, earnings would have been 29 cents per share, a penny better than analysts surveyed by FactSet expected.
Revenue jumped 42 percent to nearly $6 billion, mainly because of the ACS deal. That was in line with estimates.
Yet Xerox said it expects adjusted earnings of 20 to 22 cents per share for the first quarter, which is a penny shy of estimates.
And for the full year, it projected adjusted earnings per share of $1.05 to $1.10. Analysts were looking for the high end of that range, on average.
Shares in Xerox Corp. fell 79 cents to $10.61 when the market opened.
The company's full-year earnings came to $606 million, or 43 cents per share, up 25 percent from $485 million, or 55 cents per share, in 2009. Revenue climbed 43 percent to $21.6 billion from $15.2 billion.
©2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
