Imaging technology products and services provider Eastman Kodak Company (EK) Wednesday reported a narrower loss for the second quarter that primarily reflected lower charges compared to the last year. However, the loss came in much larger than analysts' estimates, sending the company's shares down by over 10% in morning trade. Kodak also maintained its earnings and revenue guidance for the full year.
The company's second quarter loss from continuing operations was $167 million or $0.62 per share, narrower than $191 million or $0.71 per share recorded in the year-ago quarter.
Latest quarter results included legal contingencies and restructuring charges of $0.11 per share, while last year's results included restructuring and tax related charges of $0.28 per share.
On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.32 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Quarterly sales dropped 11% to $1.57 billion from $1.77 billion in the same quarter last year. Analysts estimated revenues of $1.67 billion for the quarter.
Revenue from the company's digital commercial printing businesses grew 9% in the second quarter, including 18% growth in commercial inkjet printing. Consumer inkjet printer and ink revenue grew by 50% in the second quarter.
Commenting on the results, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said, "Our new digital businesses, particularly consumer and commercial inkjet, continue to gain traction, with sales growth outpacing the competition. Digital commercial printing revenue, for example, grew 9% in the second quarter, consumer inkjet printer and ink revenue grew 50%."
Gross profit margin improved to 19.3% of sales from 18.5% in the year-ago period, which the company attributed to continued productivity improvements.
Looking ahead to the full year, Kodak maintained its loss from continuing operations guidance range of $50 million to $150 million, including the impact of the $102 million net charge for early extinguishment of debt related to the company's financing transactions in the first quarter.
The company also maintained its full-year revenue guidance range of $7.5 billion to $7.7 billion, reflecting the increasing strength of its digital portfolio. It expects full-year digital revenue at the high end of its previous forecast and full-year traditional revenue slightly below the previous forecast.
Analysts currently expect the company to report earnings of $0.53 per share on revenues of $7.60 billion for the full year.
EK is currently trading at $4.35 per share, down $0.58 or 11.76%, on a volume of 4.11 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. In the past 52-week period, the share had traded in a range of $2.87 to $9.08, with three-month average volume of 9.59 million shares.
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