Bottom Falls Out For Electronics For Imaging
Electronics for Imaging Falls as Sales Miss Estimates
Jan
08 — Electronics for Imaging Inc., the maker of digital printers and
inks, fell the most in more than seven years in New York trading after
the company reported preliminary fourth-quarter sales that missed
analysts’ estimates.Sales for the quarter that ended on Dec. 31 were
about $152 million, the Foster City, California-based company said
yesterday in a statement. That missed the $163.6 million average
estimate of seven analysts polled by Bloomberg.First-quarter sales will
be $133 million to $137 million, the company said. Six analysts on
average estimated $152.2 million in a Bloomberg survey.Sales were
affected by “weak demand” for Fiery digital color printer servers and
higher-than-expected operating expenses of about $72 million, the
company said in the statement. Weakness in the Fiery business will
continue in the first quarter, though inkjet sales are expected to rise
25 percent from a year earlier.Electronics for Imaging fell $5.95, or
31 percent, to $13.22 as of 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market
composite trading, the biggest drop since June 2000. The stock had lost
26 percent during the past year through yesterday, compared with an 8.6
decline in the Russell 2000 Index.