HOLTSVILLE, N.Y.-Symbol Technologies Inc. reported increasing revenues as well as net earnings of $16.2 million in its fourth quarter, but the positive news didn’t interest investors, who sent the company’s stock down about 11 percent. Symbol’s stock was trading about $16 after its earnings release.
Symbol said it just missed its guidance of $400 in revenues in the fourth quarter due to an additional deferral of $5 million from a European distributor. However, Symbol’s $393 million in revenues were up from the $373 million it reported in the same quarter a year ago. Symbol also reported net earnings compared with the $68.7 million net loss it reported in the same quarter a year ago.
“Although full-year 2003 revenue at $1.53 billion came in slightly under 10 percent growth, it was a year in which we made great organizational, cultural and financial progress,” said William Nuti, the company’s chief executive officer and president. “Having put many of the issues of the past behind us as well as much of the extraordinary expense associated with the restatement period, 2004 operating expense should be favorably impacted. That said, in 2004 the company plans to make investments in systems to drive work force productivity and improved business controls, sales coverage to drive top-line growth and customer satisfaction, finance to improve process execution and financial controls, and new products to increase the market share position of all of our business divisions-all necessary to achieve our business plan goals beyond 2004.”
Symbol recently finished restating its earnings for the past several years.
