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Xerox shaves 3Q loss
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October 23, 2001: 12:01 p.m. ET
Copier company apparently hits recently lowered guidance on weaker sales.
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NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - Xerox Corp. shaved its third-quarter loss Tuesday, meeting lowered guidance for the period, as it said it had embarked on a previously announced $1 billion cost-cutting program that includes cutting 11,000 jobs.
The troubled copier maker lost $212 million, or 24 cents a share excluding a restructuring charge, but including a $10 million, or 1 cent a share, loss due to a property insurance loss related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call raised their loss-per-share estimate to 24 cents from 12 cents following an Oct. 12 warning from the company. The estimate includes the Sept. 11-related loss, First Call said.
The result was narrower than the loss of $191 million, or 30 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue fell to $3.9 billion from $4.5 billion a year earlier. First Call forecast revenue of $3.87 billion.
Shares of Xerox (XRX: up $0.16 to $7.48, Research, Estimates) jumped in Tuesday trading following the announcement.
The company said that its liquidity continued to improve in the quarter with $2.4 billion in cash compared with $2.2 billion it had at the end of June. The company has reduced its debt by $3.4 billion since the end of Sept. 2000, and said it had begun talks with its lenders to refinance a portion of its $7 billion revolving credit line and extend its maturity.
"Despite expected revenue declines, our results in July and August exceeded expectations, evidence of our much improved operations," CEO Anne M. Mulcahy said. "However, the dramatic economic downturn since the events of Sept. 11 resulted in an unprecedented loss in September, driven by disproportionate revenue decreases during the last two weeks of the month."
Xerox also said it has initiated plans to trim costs by $1 billion, including the reduction of nearly 11,000 jobs worldwide as previously announced.
Mulcahy said the company remains cautiously optimistic that the restructuring program will position the company for a return to operational profitability, but that marketplace uncertainty is likely to hurt fourth-quarter revenue. 
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