Xerox swings to loss on litigation charge
SAN
FRANCISCO — Xerox Corp. on Friday said it swung to a first-quarter
loss because of a hefty litigation charge, but the printer and copy
machine giant still managed to match Wall Street targets on an adjusted
basis.Xerox CorporationNorwalk, Conn.-based Xerox posted a loss of $244
million, or 27 cents a share, vs. a profit of $233 million, or 24 cents
a share, a year earlier. Excluding the 54-cent per-share charge,
earnings would have come in at 27 cents a share.Revenue rose 13% to
$4.34 billion from $3.84 billion a year ago, thanks mainly to the
company’s move to sell more color printers. Sales from color grew 13%
and now represent 40% of overall revenue, an increase of 3 percentage
points.Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for a profit,
on average, of 27 cents a share on revenue of $4.24 billion.The
expected charge stemmed from its settlement of a $670 million
securities lawsuit. The company announced in late March that it would
take a $491 million charge to cover the settlement and set aside a
reserve for other pending securities cases.Xerox said it expects to
report a second-quarter profit of 23 cents to 25 cents a share,
including a 5-cent restructuring charge. The company’s range is mostly
in line with analyst targets for the quarter.