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Kodak 3Q profit leaps
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October 13, 1998: 8:17 a.m. ET
Company beats Wall Street estimates, but sales drop on global turmoil
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Eastman Kodak Co. reported better-than-expected third- quarter earnings Tuesday, but warned tough competition and adverse market conditions overseas will continue to take their toll on the company's sales.
The photo products maker posted net earnings of $398 million, or $1.21 per diluted share, up more than 70 percent from last year's $232 million, or 71 cents per diluted share.
Wall Street analysts had predicted earnings per share of $1.20.
Sales were $3.391 billion, down 10 percent from $3.773 billion a year ago.
Net earnings for the first three quarters of 1998 were $1.118 billion, up 49 percent from $749 million last year. Diluted earnings per share jumped 52 percent to $3.41 from $2.25.
Sales for the year to date were $9.843 billion, a decline of 9 percent from $10.759 billion in the year-ago period.
Rochester, N.Y.-based Kodak partly blamed the decline in sales on the formation of Kodak Polychrome Graphics in 1997 and the reclassification of certain promotional expenses.
U.S. sales were adversely impacted by a drop in selling prices and volume. The strength of the U.S. dollar and the poor economic situation in emerging markets hurt the company's overseas sales.
Excluding the impact of Kodak Polychrome Graphics, reclassification, the sale of Fox Photo and the currency effect, worldwide sales declined 4 percent.
"Clearly, our underlying growth this year has been very much affected by increasingly difficult economic times and a tough competitive environment. Neither of those conditions is likely to change in the near-term," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George Fisher said.
"We will continue to drive costs down to free resources for investments in initiatives that yield value-creating, long-term growth," he added.
Shares of Kodak (EK) jumped 1-1/2 to 83-9/16 Monday. 
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Eastman Kodak
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