Xerox Sees 1Q Profit Decline As Sales Drop

Monday, April 24th 2006, 9:51 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Xerox Corp., a maker of copiers, printers and other imaging equipment, on Monday reported a modest decline in first-quarter profit as sales dropped. Its shares dropped more than 4 percent in early trading.

Net income available to common stockholders declined to $186 million, or 20 cents a share, for the three months ended March 31 from $196 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago. The per-share results held steady because the number of shares outstanding dropped to 918.3 million from 931.2 million at the same time.

Revenue slipped 2 percent to $3.695 billion from $3.771 billion in the prior-year period. Equipment sales fell 4 percent, while service, licensing and financing revenue slipped 1 percent in the quarter.

Excluding the unfavorable impact of currency translation, revenue was flat year over year, Xerox said.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 21 cents per share on sales of $3.82 billion.

Xerox forecast second-quarter earnings in a range of 22 cents to 24 cents per share, including a penny-per-share charge for the termination of its 2003 credit facility. Analysts expect a profit of 24 cents per share.