For the third quarter ending September 30, the company reported net income of $104.1 million, or $0.79 a share, above the company’s guidance of $0.63 to $0.73 a share issued in late July.
This compares to net income of $89.8 million, or $0.70 a share including asset impairment write-offs of $0.09 a share. Revenue increased 11% to $1.16 billion from $1.04 billion in the year-ago quarter. This beat Wall Street projections of $1.10 billion.
Despite the uncertain economic environment and aggressive price competition in the printer market, revenue from laser and inkjet supplies climbed 13% from a year ago, accounting for $641 million in sales, up from $568 million a year ago. Actual printer revenue was $430 million.
However, it was the company’s prediction that it would exceed Wall Street analysts’ average estimates for the fourth quarter that pleased the market.
Looking forward, it said it expects fourth-quarter earnings of $0.85 to $0.95 a share, above analyst consensus forecast of $0.82 a share.
It anticipates the growth to come from this year’s product launches for home and business users. Revenue is expected to rise in the mid-to-high digits, from $1.21 billion a year ago. Wall Street expects revenue of $1.13 billion for the period.
The Lexington, Kentucky-based firm is one of the world’s biggest makers of laser and inkjet printers, and is ranked second only in the printer market after Hewlett-Packard [HPQ]. Last year, there was speculation it would be acquired by PC manufacturing giant Dell Computer Corp [DELL].
This article was based on material originally published by ComputerWire.
