AT&T; Cites Restructuring for $1.8-Billion Loss : * Telecommunications: A one-time $4-billion charge kept the firm from having a record profit.

American Telephone & Telegraph Co. reported a third-quarter loss of $1.8 billion on Thursday because of restructuring costs, which will pay for 14,000 job cuts that stem partly from its recent purchase of NCR Corp.

Without the onetime $4-billion accounting charge against earnings, AT&T; would have reported a record profit.

The telecommunications giant said the charge reduced profit by $2.65 billion after taxes.

The loss for the quarter ended Sept. 30 translates to $1.40 a share, roughly in line with the projections of industry analysts.

AT&T;’s profit for last year’s third quarter, which has been restated to include the results of NCR, totaled $803 million, or 62 cents a share. AT&T; completed its merger with the Dayton, Ohio-based computer maker Sept. 19.

Revenue of the two companies advanced 1.2% to $11.04 billion from $10.91 billion in last year’s third quarter. AT&T;’s revenue alone rose 3.3% to $9.70 billion.

AT&T; said for the first time that its restructuring, announced in July, would involve eliminating about 14,000 jobs through Jan. 1, 1994. Severance payments will be paid for by the restructuring charge.

AT&T; employed about 325,000 at the end of September, including 55,000 NCR workers.

The company would not provide a breakdown of the job reductions, but said they would come primarily from divisions that make and sell office phone systems, which have been losing money; from among the 3,500 employees of its computer division who aren’t moving into the NCR subsidiary, and from warehouse and distribution divisions.

“The good news is there was no more bad news. There was some worry there might be more shoes dropped--a higher (restructuring) charge or NCR was having some sort of problem,” said Richard Toole, who follows AT&T; for Merrill Lynch & Co.

AT&T; shares, the most widely owned of any stock in the nation, fell 12.5 cents to $39 by the 4 p.m. EDT close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Excluding the charges and NCR’s income, AT&T;’s third-quarter profit amounted to $808 million, or 73 cents a share, up from $712 million, or 65 cents a share, in the same period last year.

With the inclusion of NCR’s income, AT&T; earned $848 million in the quarter, or 66 cents a share.

AT&T;’s results also include charges of about $200 million recorded by NCR during the quarter because of expenses related to the merger, a plant closing and a court-ordered payment. NCR’s operating profit plunged 56% to $40 million in the quarter, while revenue fell 10% to $1.38 billion, AT&T; said. After subtracting the charge NCR took, NCR had a net loss of $82 million.

AT&T; blamed NCR’s lower results on the weakness in the computer business and the impact of a strong dollar, which hurts sales and profits overseas.