NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Diversified manufacturer Tyco International Ltd. on Tuesday posted sharply lower fiscal third-quarter results that met Wall Street expectations, as it reaffirmed its guidance for the fourth quarter.

The company earned $900.5 million, or 45 cents a share, from continuing operations excluding special items for the period ended June 30. That's in line with the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call but down from the $1.3 billion, or 73 cents a share, it earned on the same basis in the year-earlier period.

Including special items, the company, whose products include electronics, fire and security services and undersea fiber optic cable, posted a net loss of $84.1 million, or 4 cents a share, compared with net income of $1.1 billion, or 60 cents a share a year earlier.

Revenue rose to $9.1 billion from $8.6 billion a year earlier, as it missed the First Call revenue forecast of $9.3 billion.

The company said it expects to earn between 45 and 47 cents a share in its fiscal fourth quarter, which put it roughly in line with the consensus First Call earnings per share forecast of 45 cents and the range of estimates from 44 to 46 cents.

The company's earnings statement said a top priority is finding a new chief executive. Former CEO Dennis Kozlowski is facing state tax evasion and evidence tampering charges related to his purchase of art work, and the company reportedly is the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into how it accounted for acquisitions that helped fuel its growth.

The Tyco results did not include results from CIT, the commercial finance division that was spun off July 2, just after the end of the quarter.

CIT reported its own results, saying it earned $166.7 million excluding special items during the quarter ended June 30. The company did not give a per-share figure since it had no shares outstanding during the period, but the 11 analysts surveyed by First Call gave estimates on a per-share basis, having an 83-cent consensus forecast. That's in line with CIT's reported earnings divided by the current 200 million shares outstanding.

Special charges, including a charge taking into account the IPO valuation of the company relative to the book value of goodwill recorded in conjunction with Tyco's acquisition of CIT, plunged the company to a net loss of $1.99 billion.

Shares of Tyco (TYC: down $0.66 to $11.19, Research, Estimates) were lower in midday trading Tuesday, while shares of CIT (CIT: down $2.25 to $19.05, Research, Estimates) were off nearly 10 percent.