Another Earnings Stumble for Xerox

On a GAAP basis EPS totaled $0.16, excluding a charge of $0.05 per share for amortization of intangibles.

In the first quarter of 2015, Xerox said revenue in its Services business fell 3% to $2.5 billion (up 1% in constant currency), but margin fell 1.1% to 75%, primarily due to higher costs in the company’s legacy Health Enterprise platform implementations.

Revenue in the Document Technology business came in at $1.8 billion, down 10% (down 6% in constant currency). Margin fell 1.1% to 11.1% due to increased pension expenses.

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The company’s CEO said:

Our earnings are in-line with the guidance we provided. Results in Document Technology, which included the increased impact from foreign currency, largely met our expectations. Several of our Services businesses performed well, but overall Services segment results fell short of our expectations driven by higher implementation costs in certain Health Enterprise platform accounts.

Xerox lowered its full-year revenue guidance from a prior estimate of flat to a new estimate of down approximately 1% in constant dollars. Foreign exchange effects will cost the company 4%, the top end of the prior range. Services margins are now forecast in a range of 8.5% to 9%, down from the prior guidance of 9% to 10%. Full-year adjusted EPS is now expected to total $0.95 to $1.01, down from a prior range of $1.00 to $1.06.

For second-quarter 2015, Xerox expects GAAP earnings of $0.17 to $0.19 per share and adjusted EPS of $0.21 to $0.23 per share. The consensus estimates call for adjusted EPS of $0.25 on revenues of $4.74 billion.

Xerox plans to use its proceeds from the sale of its ITO business to repurchase up to $1 billion in shares this year, to return approximately $300 million to shareholders in dividends and to spend up to $900 million on acquisitions.

Xerox shares closed up about 1.7% on Thursday at $13.14. Shares were trading down about 4.5% in Friday’s premarket, at $12.55 in a 52-week range of $11.60 to $14.36. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $14.60 before the report.

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