Wednesday, Itron Inc. (ITRI), a technology provider to the utility industry, reported a loss for the third quarter compared to a profit in the same period previous year, reflecting continued softness in the market, negative impact of economic conditions, foreign currency exchange rates and lower order volumes.
Itron posted third-quarter net loss of $2.96 million, compared to net profit of $5.60 million last year. Loss per share was $0.07 compared to profit per share of $0.15 per share last year.
Excluding charges, net income decreased to $18.20 million or $0.45 per share from $29.87 million or $0.81 per share last year.
On average, 16 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit of $0.50 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenues decreased 16% to $408.35 million from $484.81 million a year ago. Analysts expected revenues of $418.52 million for the quarter.
North America revenues declined to $137 million from $176 million last year, primarily driven by the substantial completion of a number of AMR contracts in 2008 and fewer shipments of electric meters and AMR modules due to the economic downturn and uncertainty surrounding stimulus funds announcements.
International revenues declined to $271 million from $309 million mainly due to the impact of foreign exchange rates and due to completion of a smart metering/AMI project in 2008, softening of demand in some markets and economic conditions in certain countries.
Gross margins of 31.7% for the third quarter were lower than 2008 gross margins of 33.6%. Operating expenses declined to $120 million from $138 million a year ago.
Net loss for the nine months was $7.40 million or $0.19 per share, compared with net profit of $17.64 million or $0.50 per share in the prior year period. Revenues for the nine months decreased 18% to $1.21 billion from $1.48 billion in the previous year period.
ITRI closed Wednesday's regular trading at $57.61 down $2.04 or 3.42% on a volume of 1.003million shares on the Nasdaq.
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