Ailing Digital Equipment Loses $260 Million in Quarter

Digital Equipment Corp. said Wednesday that it lost $260.5 million in its most recent quarter, showing the strains of a computer company trying to dramatically change directions in a sluggish economy.

The loss, larger than what some analysts had expected and equal to $2.04 per share, continued a string of disappointing news from the nation’s second-largest computer maker.

Sales during the first fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 26, totaled $3.3 billion, up slightly from $3.29 billion for the same period last year.

During the like quarter a year earlier, Maynard, Mass.-based Digital earned $11.6 million, or 9 cents per share, on operations. However, Digital reduced its earnings by $485 million to cover accounting changes for retirement benefits.

That left it with a net loss for the quarter of $473.8 million, or $3.80 per share.