Xerox Swings to 2nd-Quarter Profit
Xerox Corp. earned $93 million in the second quarter, its first profit in more than a year, and said it would be profitable for the year. Sales in the recent quarter dropped to $3.95 billion from $4.28 billion a year earlier. Net income was 12 cents a share, contrasted with a net loss of $101 million, or 14 cents, a year earlier.
Profit in the second half is expected to be 9 cents to 12 cents, Chief Executive Anne Mulcahy said. Analysts had expected a loss.
Mulcahy has sold assets and exited businesses, such as small-office printers, as sales dropped for the ninth quarter in a row. Xerox also cut its work force by 2,200 positions to 72,400. Mulcahy said there would be more job cuts.
Shares of Stamford, Conn.-based Xerox rose 85 cents to $6.20 on the New York Stock Exchange. It has fallen 18% in the last year amid a Securities and Exchange Commission probe that led to a record $10-million fine for inflating sales.
In other earnings Thursday:
* VeriSign Inc., the nation’s leading Internet name registrar, reported a second-quarter net loss caused mostly by a $4.6-billion noncash charge related to the write-down of acquisitions. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company reported a net loss of $4.8 billion, or $20.31 a share. The loss was still a boost over the same period last year, when VeriSign reported a net loss of $11.19 billion, or $55.49 a share, including a $9.9-billion acquisition-related charge. Sales for the quarter rose to $317.4 million from $231.1 million a year earlier.
Executives said that, despite struggling under the general economic slump, VeriSign saw some growth for telecommunications services and Web authentication products. Its stock dropped 62 cents to $5.25 on Nasdaq.
* Electronic Arts Inc., the nation’s largest independent video game publisher, surprised Wall Street, posting a net profit of $7.4 million, or 5 cents a share, in its fiscal first quarter, contrasted with a year-earlier loss of $45.3 million, or 33 cents.
Excluding amortization of goodwill and other intangible assets, Redwood City, Calif.-based EA posted operating profit of $9 million, or 6 cents a share. Analysts had estimated a loss of 8 cents. Revenue jumped 82% to $331.9 million from $182 million from a year earlier.
* Pasadena-based Internet search engine company Overture Services Inc. posted a second-quarter profit of $17.5 million, or 29 cents a share, compared with a $2.88-million loss, or 6 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose to $152.5 million from $62.5 million.
* Western Digital Corp. posted a fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $13.1 million, or 7 cents a share, contrasted with a net loss of $61.2 million, or 34 cents, a year earlier. Sales for the Lake Forest computer disk drive maker rose to $540.7 million from $455.7 million.
