News

Higher ATM sales boost NCR's 4Q '03 earnings

January 26, 2004

DAYTON, Ohio - NCR Corp.'s (NYSE:NCR - News) fourth-quarter profit rose due to higher sales of its ATMs and data warehouses and the weaker dollar.

NCR said fourth-quarter net income rose to $80 million, or 84 cents per share, from $57 million, or 57 cents per share, in 2002's fourth quarter. Revenue rose to $1.64 billion from $1.58 billion.

The mean estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call was for earnings of 80 cents a share.

The weaker dollar, which makes U.S. goods less expensive overseas, contributed 6 percentage points to revenue growth during the quarter.

NCR said sales of ATMs rose 13 percent to $392 million from $346 million. Sales of its data storage systems and related services rose 6 percent, to $361 million from $341 million a year earlier. Retail store systems were relatively flat at $234 million, compared with $233 million.

For all of 2003, NCR had net income of $58 million, or 61 cents a diluted share, versus a year-earlier net loss of $220 million, or $2.25 a basic share. The 2002 results included a goodwill write-down of $348 million, or $3.48 a share. Revenue edged up to $5.6 billion from $5.59 billion.

NCR is projecting a first-quarter 2004 loss of 25 cents to 35 cents a share, with revenue ranging from flat to up 2 percent. The First Call estimate is for a loss of 26 cents a share.

The company also anticipates full-year 2004 earnings of 85 cents to 95 cents a share on flat revenue. The First Call estimate is for earnings of 93 cents a share.