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Aphria Records 63% Net Revenue Growth – 2019 – Reports Earnings – CEO

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Aphria Records 63% Net Revenue Growth in Fiscal 2019 Second Quarter; Announces Executive Team Transition

— Net revenue of $21.7 million up 63% from prior quarter on initial sales
to Canadian adult-use market; adjusted gross profit of $10.2 million

— To accelerate the production ramp-up post-Health Canada approvals, yields
were lowered to build stockpiles for expanded facilities and to implement
highly automated cultivation and harvesting

— Licence applications submitted for facilities expansions; annualized
harvest expected to increase to 255,000 kilograms by the end of calendar
2019

— Successfully advanced international growth strategy with significant
strategic alliances and investments in Europe and Latin American

— Co-founder Cole Cacciavillani and CEO Vic Neufeld will transition out of
roles over the coming months, currently working with Aphria independent
Chair Irwin D. Simon and President Jakob Ripshtein to plan succession and
ensure orderly transition.

Three months ended Three months ended
November 30, November 30,
2018 2017
$21,668 Net revenue $8,504
$5,983 Gross profit $6,202
$10,157 Adjusted gross profit (1) $5,758
46.9% Adjusted gross margin (1) 67.7%
$54,774 Net income $6,455
$(9,530) Adjusted EBITDA (1) $1,569

Q2-2019 Q1-2019
Kilograms (or kilogram
3,408.9 equivalents) sold (1) 1,778.2
$21,668 Net revenue $13,292
Adjusted EBITDA from Canadian
$(6,073) Cannabis Operations (1) $(828)
Cash cost to produce dried
$1.76 cannabis / gram(1) $1.30
“All-in” cost of goods sold /
$2.60 gram(1) $1.83
Cash ands cash equivalents &
$184,821 marketable securities $313,982
$181,523 Working capital $363,245
$49,061 Investment in capital and $28,036
intangible assets
-wholly-owned
subsidiaries(1)

Key Operating Highlights
— 92% increase in kilogram equivalents1 sold, reflecting partial period
sales from the opening of the Canadian adult-use market, as well as
continued sales of medical cannabis to existing and new patients

— Adjusted gross margins of 47% of net revenue, compared to 64% in prior
quarter, as expected, due to lower effective selling prices in adult-use
market, as well as temporarily lowered yields and higher production costs
related to facilities expansion and implementation of automation

— Part IV and V expansions of Aphria One awaiting Health Canada approval;
application for cultivation licence at Aphria Diamond submitted and also
awaiting Health Canada pre-cultivation inspection

— Announced and closed subsequent to quarter-end of the acquisition of CC
Pharma, a leading distributor to pharmacies in Germany

— Closed acquisition of key operations and licenses in strategic Latin
America and Caribbean jurisdictions; subsequently established additional
strategic alliances in the region to expand the Company’s medical
cannabis operations and distribution

— Listed on the NYSE, providing shareholders greater liquidity

— Appointed new independent Chair of Board of Directors, Irwin D. Simon,
subsequent to quarter-end

— Ended quarter with strong balance sheet and liquidity, including $152.1
million of cash and $32.7 million of liquid marketable securities, to
fund announced Canadian and International growth and facilities expansion

Executive Transition
Aphria Chief Executive Officer Vic Neufeld, and Co-founder Cole Cacciavillani, are both nearing the end of their five-year journey with the Company and will transition out of their executive roles over the coming months but remain on the Board. Working closely with Irwin D. Simon, Aphria’s recently appointed independent Chair, and President Jakob Ripshtein, Mr. Neufeld and Mr. Cacciavillani intend to complete a smooth and responsible transition to a globally-minded executive leadership team for the long-term benefit of the Company’s patients, shareholders, customers, and employees.

Aphria Chair Irwin D. Simon commented, “Vic and Cole are consummate entrepreneurs. Thanks to their vision, energy and passion, Aphria has become a global player in an industry that didn’t even exist five years ago. On behalf of the entire Aphria team, I want to express my gratitude to both. I look forward to working with them to further build Aphria’s leadership team and continue driving long-term value for our patients, customers and employees into the future.”

“When the Canadian medical cannabis market opened up five years ago, Cole was growing millions of potted flowers in Leamington, and he understood that cannabis was a natural product extension for the founding team’s decades of experience as greenhouse growers in Leamington,” said Mr. Neufeld. “Now with legalization and globalization, including a huge market opportunity with positive developments in the U.S., Aphria’s next generation of leadership may take the reins. Building and leading a Company like Aphria, which exploded from an idea in late 2013 to our many successes to-date, has been an incredible journey, despite the toll it has taken on health, family and personal priorities.”

“Vic and I have worked tirelessly for decades, building great businesses, but now in our sixties, it is time for both of us to step back from the demands of leading a world-class organization. Endless meetings, travel, deadlines, talent search – the list of executive responsibilities will only continue to grow,” said Mr. Cacciavillani.

“Succession is the plan. Cole and I have informed the Board, and they have agreed, that we will begin the transition process immediately, and at the appropriate time, we will both step down from executive positions at Aphria. We continue to have the greatest pride in what Aphria has achieved, and its future has never looked brighter. From continued technology advancements, to continued support of scientific developments, to amazing adult-use brands, to globalization strategies, and most of all, the hundreds of dedicated passionate team members that have joined Aphria, we are well positioned to be a dominant player,” concluded Mr. Neufeld.

The Board has requested that, following the transition, Mr. Neufeld and Mr. Cacciavillani continue to apply their knowledge and expertise as special advisors to both the Chair and the President, ensuring a smooth transition of institutional experience and strategic advice until a new CEO is appointed.

Second Quarter Commentary
“In our second quarter, Aphria continued strengthening its position as a premier supplier of medical- and adult-use cannabis to the Canadian market, building long-term competitive advantage and developing key global opportunities,” said Mr. Neufeld.
“This is the first quarter to partially include adult-use sales, helping to drive 63% quarter-over-quarter net revenue growth, as did continued strength in sales to the medical-use market. As expected, gross margins declined, reflecting lower effective selling prices in the adult-use market, as well as temporarily lower yields and higher production costs in the quarter as we moved aggressively to build out production facilities and implement new automation processes.

“A top priority for Aphria is expanding production and automation to secure our long-term cost and scale advantages. The Part IV and V expansions of Aphria One are now complete and awaiting Health Canada approval, while an application for a cultivation licence at Aphria Diamond has been submitted and is awaiting pre-cultivation inspection. Based on this, we now expect to generate first sales from these new facilities later in the calendar year, pending Health Canada approvals, with our annualized harvest reaching 255,000 kilograms, compared to 35,000 kilograms currently, by the end of calendar 2019.

“In the second quarter we also positioned the Company for long-term growth in key global markets with strategic alliances, targeted investments and disciplined acquisitions. We’re excited to have just closed the previously announced acquisition of CC Pharma, based in Germany, which distributes pharmaceuticals and medical cannabis to over 13,000 pharmacies. This transaction positions Aphria to be a leading player in the European medical cannabis market. We’re equally optimistic about our recently announced alliances and acquisitions of highly strategic licenses and operations in Latin America and the Caribbean’s most attractive emerging cannabis markets, including Colombia, Argentina, Paraguay and Jamaica.

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Finance Music Top Stories

Trump Wants SEC to End Quarterly Reporting for U.S. Businesses

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President Trump on Friday called on financial regulators to consider allowing public companies to share information with the public less often, a potentially major shakeup of corporate America.

“That would allow greater flexibility & save money,” Trump said in a tweet.

Currently, publicly-traded companies must file quarterly reports, disclosing extensive details about their operations, including profits and revenue. But some chief executives have complained that these type of requirements lead them to focus on short-term profits rather than the long-term health of their companies.

In his tweet, Trump said that the Securities and Exchange Commission should consider moving the reporting requirement to every six months instead of every three. Trump said the proposal follows conversations with the “world’s top business leaders” about how to “make business (jobs) even better in the U.S.”

The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The proposal is likely to be lambasted by shareholder advocates, who in recent years have called on corporations to share more information with the public not less.

It also comes as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has proposed forcing companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue to weigh the interests of all stakeholders — including workers and local communities, in addition to shareholders — in its decision-making. Under the proposal, workers would elect 40 percent of the directors and three-fourths of directors and shareholders would need to sign off on political expenditures.

The proposals offer drastically different approaches to addressing corporations’ reliance on reaching short-term goals to satisfy investors.

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Finance

Bay Area Home Prices Soar 16 Percent Year-over-Year

The San Francisco Bay Area is enjoying a much faster recovery than most other markets around the nation, according to a string of recent reports. San Diego-based housing data tracker DataQuick reported Wednesday that the median price for homes sold in the nine-county Bay Area in April was $610,000. That marks a 5.4 percent increase from March, and an impressive 16 percent gain from the prior April. That’s the highest the Bay Area median price has been since November 2007, just before the recession kicked in, and is just 8 percent below the the housing bubble peak of $665,000.

While rising prices and sales are always a good thing, some housing experts worry that San Francisco and the surrounding communities are weeding out the middle class. With prices soaring and inventory dissipating, affordability is on the decline as the majority of homes are only sold after bidding wars that end with the seller getting far more than he initially asked for. According to an affordability report from Trulia, households earning the Bay Area median income of just over $84,000 can only afford 14 percent of the homes on the market, by far the lowest among major markets across the country. For comparison’s sake, households earning the median in L.A. County can afford 25 percent of the homes listed.

One of the major reasons San Francisco’s housing market has recovered so well is its proximity to Silicon Valley, home to a number of major tech firms including Google, Apple and Yahoo. The growth of these and other companies has prompted a lot of hiring over the last few years, which has pumped up demand for housing in the area. Some locals have begun to voice concern, however, that a crash will undoubtedly hit the area once the companies’ hiring frenzy slows down. The question that has observers scrambling for now is when exactly that will happen.

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Finance

Bank of America Profit Soars 63 percent

Bank of America issued its second-quarter results Wednesday, posting a 63 percent increase in profit that outpaced Wall Street estimates thanks to CEO Brian Moynihan’s aggressive turnaround plans and successful cost-trimming moves. In the three months ended June 30th, the nation’s second-largest bank earned $4 billion, or 32 cents a share, up 63 percent from the year-ago period’s figures. Analysts in a recent FactSet survey had projected earnings of just 25 cents a share. Overall revenue, meanwhile, rose from $22 billion a year ago to $22.9 billion, just ahead of the $22.8 billion the FactSet analysts had predicted. Investors welcomed the report, pushing the bank’s shares up 3.5 percent by 12:30 PM ET.

Bank of America’s solid quarter came largely as the result of steep cost-cutting maneuvers implemented since CEO Brian Moynihan took the helm in 2010. In the April to June quarter, BAC managed to trim its expenses by 6 percent through these moves, designed to reduce scrutiny on the bank and make it easier to manage. The bank has now reduced its workforce by nearly 7 percent to 257,000 employees, down almost 11 percent from its peak workforce of 289,000 in early 2011. The firm has also benefited from shuttering unprofitable branches, closing 260 since the beginning of the year. The bank currently operates 5,300 branches, but plans to continue trimming that number down moving forward.

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Finance

Yahoo Earnings Jump 46 Percent

Yahoo issued its second-quarter results after Tuesday’s opening bell, posting disappointing revenue totals in its two most important units, display and search advertising. The company’s profit rose by almost half, however, underscoring the progress CEO Marissa Mayer has made since coming over from Google last summer. Investors overlooked the revenue declines, choosing to focus on the positive aspects of the report, driving shares of the company up nearly 10 percent in early afternoon trading.

In the three months ended June 30th, Yahoo’s net income totaled $331 million, or 30 cents a share; an improvement of 46 percent over the same period in 2012. Overall revenue, however, slipped by 7 percent from the year ago quarter to $1.14 billion as the once-mighty tech firm continues to try and revive its ailing display and search advertising units. Yahoo’s revenue from display advertising was down 12 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, while revenue from search fell nearly 10 percent. In addition, the number of display ads Yahoo sold has declined for eight consecutive quarters now.

While Yahoo’s revenue hiccup underscores the difficult road ahead for Mayer in trying to revive the company’s core earnings businesses, the jump in profit is evidence of her successful management of Yahoo’s investment holdings. The company’s 24 percent stake in Alibaba has been a big driver of profits, and the stake is expected to continue delivering moving forward as the Chinese e-commerce firm is slated to go public next year. Mayer has warned investors that it will take time to turn around the ailing ad units, noting she is focusing on developing Yahoo’s staff before turning her attention to the company’s products. The efforts seem to be working, at least to the extent that employees aren’t leaving the firm at the same rapid pace they were before Mayer was brought in.

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Finance

UBS Cites Nasdaq’s Facebook IPO Snafu for Disappointing 2Q Results

Swiss banking giant UBS issued its second-quarter earnings late Tuesday, posting an almost 50 percent slide in earnings which it blamed on losses of around $350 million in the ill-fated Facebook IPO during the period. Facebook shares began trading on the Nasdaq mid-May at a price tag of $38, but trading had to be halted over a glitch in the Nasdaq’s servers, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for the IPO’s underwriters and some investors. As a result, the bank said it will take legal action against the Nasdaq to recover at least part of its losses.

In the three months through June, UBS said it earned $436 million, or roughly half of its $848 million profit from the first quarter. In addition to the Facebook debacle, the bottom line also took a hit from higher expenses incurred by rising litigation costs and marketing expenses. The hardest hit segment at UBS, predictably, was its equity trading unit, which only generated $250 million in revenue after producing at least $1 billion in revenue in both last year’s second quarter and the first three months of this year.

UBS claims that the Nasdaaq double-filled many of its orders for shares, leaving the bank with far more shares than its clients had ordered and mounting losses as the shares plunged from their initial price. The Nasdaq has said it was setting aside funds to reimburse those affected by its trading problems surrounding the Facebook IPO. But, at just $62 million, the fund wouldn’t even come close to covering the loss claimed by UBS alone.

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Finance

Cablevision Systems Shares Slip 8 Percent on Disappointing Profit

Cablevision Systems Corp., the fifth largest cable provider in the US in terms of subscriber base, issued its first-quarter results Thursday, posting lower-than-expected operating profits as the company struggled to sign up new subscribers without offering steep discount packages. The report alarmed investors leading to a decline of nearly 8 percent in Thursday trading. Several analysts downgraded the stock, as well, and some lowered their target prices.

Cablevision’s operating income slipped by about 7.5 percent from a year ago to $513 million in the three months ended March 30th. While the company was able to increase its paid subscriber count by 7,000 during the quarter, its 3.26 million subscribers are nearly 50,000 less than it had a year ago. As most of its subscriber additions have come through discount package promotions, analysts are concerned about what those subscribers will do if the company discontinues such offers and they must pay full price to continue subscribing.

In addition to its gains in pay television service, Cablevision also added about 42,000 customers each in the second quarter in its broadband Internet and home telephone divisions, exceeding Wall Street expectations in both areas. The company cited improved customer service and a decision not to increase rates for all its subscriber additions.

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Finance

SanDisk Shares Plunge on Weak Guidance

Shares of flash memory manufacturer SanDisk plummeted on Wednesday after the company lowered its forecast late Tuesday for earnings in the current quarter. The news prompted a number of highly followed stock analysts to downgrade the company’s stock, sending shares down more than 10 percent through the first half of Wednesday’s trading session. In addition to the handful of downgrades, analysts almost unanimously dropped their price targets for the stock.

SanDisk manufactures so-called NAND chips used as torage memory for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. The company cited decreasing demand for the chips as the reason for the lowered outlook, which mirrors similar warnings from SanDisk’s chief rivals in the growing space. SanDisk is now expecting revenue this quarter to be about $1.2 billion, below the range of $1.3 to $1.35 billion it forecast back in January.

Based in Milpitas, California, SanDisk is set to report its first-quarter results later this month, and cautioned Wednesday that its gross margins will likely fall short of its previously forecast range of 39-42 percent, as growing competition and weaker demand have forced suppliers to cut prices across the flash memory sector.

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Finance

American Eagle Outfitters Profit Slips 41 Percent on Impairment Charges

een apparel retailer American Eagle Outfitters issued its fourth-quarter results Wednesday, posting a 41 percent decline in profits due to a batch of impairment charges exceeding $20 million. The company’s revenue increased from a year ago, however, and it issued an encouraging forecast for the current quarter. Shares of the company rose 91 cents a share, or 6.26 percent, to $15.54 a share on the report.

In the three months ended January 28th, AEO said it earned $51.3 million, or 26 cents per share, down from a profit of $87 million, or 44 cents per share, in 2010’s final quarter. Excluding certain one-time charges including the impairment expenses, earnings for the period came to 35 cents per share, matching the consensus estimate from economists in a recent Reuters poll. Overall revenue for the retailer rose 14 percent from the year-ago period to $1.04 billion, which also matched the average estimate from the economists in the Reuters poll.

As is the case with other retailers, the fourth quarter is the most vital for American Eagle, as the average retailer records nearly two-fifths of their annual sales during the holiday period. As such, American Eagle used aggressive discounting strategies to lure in holiday shoppers. The practice pressured the retailer’s profit margins, but managed to boost sales nonetheless. At the same time, costs for raw materials used in the company’s products also pressured margins, which fell from 39.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 34.1 percent in the most recent quarter.

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Finance Tech

IBM Shares Reach All-Time High

While relatively new tech upstarts like Google and Apple have dominated the tech headlines in recent years, 100 year-old IBM has been quietly holding its own, as the company’s stock reached a new all-time high on Monday, surpassing $200 a share. Shares of the blue-chip company have surged nearly 24 percent in the past year, giving the company a current market value of just over $232 billion. IBM, whose predecessor company was founded in 1911, struggled through the 1980s but has posted mostly strong earnings since the 1990s began.

Sam Palmisano, who served as IBM’s CEO from 2002 through last December, ran a mostly successful campaign to improve the firm’s profitability and transparency, drawing investors back to the company. In 2007, the company set a goal of earning $10 to $11 a share by 2010, a goal that was surpassed as the company posted per share earnings of $11.52 for the year. In its latest goals, the company said it wants to produce per share earnings of $20 by 2015, a lofty goal but one that could easily be met given the company’s recent growth and innovation.

IBM recently revealed that it expects 30 percent of its sales to come from emerging markets in the next few years, and that it will spend approximately $20 billion on acquisitions by the year 2015. The company’s recent track record has even caught the attention of one of the world’s most well-known investors, billionaire Warren Buffett, who took a position in the company in November, marking his first-ever investment in a tech-related firm.

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Finance

Deere Net Jumps 4 Percent

Deere & Co., the world’s largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment, issued its fiscal first-quarter results Wednesday, posting a 4 percent surge in earnings versus the year-ago quarter. Despite beating Wall Street estimates, the company’s sales growth fell short of some analysts’ expectations, causing shares to dip about 4 percent amid a broad decline in industrial stocks, making the sector the owrst performer on the S&P 500.

In the three months ended December 31st, Deere’s earnings totaled $532.9 million, or $1.30 per share, up slightly from its earnings of $513.7 million, or $1.20 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Overall revenue, meanwhile surged 11 percent to $6.77 billion, mainly due to increased demand in emerging markets like Brazil and India. Deere maintained its forecast for equipment sales growth of 15 percent in fiscal 2012, but raised its forecast for earnings from an initially predicted $3.2 billion to $3.275 billion.

A spokesman for the Moline, Illinois-based company said that the outlook would have been higher, but the company is expecting to lose about $100 million this year based on currency exchange rates. Without the exchange rate losses, the spokesman noted, sales growth would likely have reached 19 percent. Economists in a recent Bloomberg survey predicted Deere would post earnings of $1.23 per share on revenue of $6.56 billion.

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Finance

JetBlue Profit Nearly Triples

JetBlue Airlines issued its fourth-quarter results Thursday, announcing its profit nearly tripled from a year ago as milder weather allowed the airline to operate more flights on time and passenger traffic increased sharply. Investors lauded the results, sending shares of the airline up more than 4 percent. JetBlue’s success in the fourth quarter echo those of competitors Delta and US Airways, each of which posted better-than-expected results on Wednesday.

In the three months ended December 31st, JetBlue said it earned $23 million, or 8 cents a share, up from $8 million, or 3 cents a share, in the final three months of 2010. Revenue, meanwhile, increased 22 percent year-to-year to $1.15 billion, thanks to carefully executed price and fee increases. Analysts taking part in a recent FactSet survey were expecting 4 cents per share in earnings on revenue of $1.13 billion. In 2010’s fourth quarter, results were impacted by a major winter storm that hammered the airline’s major hubs, New York and Boston, costing the airline some $30 million in revenue.

For 2011 as a whole, JetBlue earned $86 million, or 28 cents per share, compared to earnings of $97 million, 31 cents a share, for all of 2010. The company made about $21 per passenger in extra fees last year, up 8 percent from the year before. The airline also reported significant improvement in revenue from its frequent flier program and vacation package deals. JetBlue ended 2011 with a fleet of 169 planes, which it is planning on expanding to 180 by the end of 2012.

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Finance

Yahoo Revenue Declines for 13th Straight Quarter

One-time Internet powerhouse Yahoo posted its fourth-quarter results Tuesday, continuing a now 4-year slump in revenue as it continues to lose ground in market share in the online advertising space. The long streak of disappointing performances prompted the firm to fire CEO Carol Bartz in September, replacing her with PayPal executive Scott Thompson several weeks ago. Thompson is Yahoo’s fourth chief executive in less than five years, and has been charged with turning around a company whose stock has fallen more than 50 percent in the last four years.

In the three months ended December 30th, Yahoo’s earnings came in at $296 million, or 24 cents a share, down 5 percent from 2010’s final three months, when the company posted earnings of $312 million, although per share earnings were unchanged due to there being less outstanding shares. Revenue for the period, meanwhile, fell 13 percent from a year ago to $1.32 billion, or $1.17 billion after subtracting advertising commissions. It’s the 13th consecutive quarter in which the company’s revenue has fallen on a year-to-year basis. Yahoo’s earnings matched the consensus estimate of analysts in a recent Bloomberg survey, but revenue missed by about $20 million.

While Thompson said that it’s still too early to disclose specific details for his plan to revive Yahoo, he did say that some Yahoo services will be closed, which could lead to layoffs at the company. During the fourth quarter, Yahoo added about 300 employees, giving it a payroll of about 14,000 workers at quarter’s end. Thompson also indicated he would expand Yahoo’s operations into several areas where he believes it could make money, though he did not offer any details on which industries he has his eyes on.

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Finance

Carnival Shares Drop 13.5 percent After Tragic Cruise Accident

Shares of Carnival Cruise Lines plunged 13.65 percent Tuesday after the company announced it would suffer $100 million in losses related to the grounding of its Costa Concordia cruise ship on Friday night. The ship, which is owned by Carnival subsidiary Costa Cruises, went aground off the coast of Italy Friday night near the island of Giglio. As of Tuesday afternoon, the official death toll from the incident is at eleven, and more than 20 people are still missing as the ship lists on its side in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Carnival said that it does carry insurance policies for damage to the ship and personal injury liability coverage for passengers, but will have to pay a $30 million deductible for the damage plan and a $10 million deductible on the personal injury policy. On top of that, the company will lose between $85 million and $95 million this year in lost revenue as a result of the ship not operating. The company expects the vehicle to take at least a year to repair, and expects additional costs stemming from the accident to pop up in the coming months, expenses which it cannot determine at this time.

A spokesman for Carnival explained that Friday’s accident couldn’t come at a worse time for the company, as January to March is typically the cruise industry’s peak season. The bad news spread to other major cruise operators, as well, with Royal Carribean shares slumping nearly 4 percent on fear that the accident would hinder demand across the industry. Some analysts downgraded shares of both companies, while others just downgraded Carnival.

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Finance

Standard Microsystems Results Well Below Expectations

Standard Microsystems Corp released its fiscal third-quarter results after the closing bell Monday, posting a smaller loss than the same quarter a year ago, but the semiconductor manufacturer predicted a repeat in the fourth quarter due to slumping consumer product sales after the holidays. The company’s shares fell 6 percent in after-market trading plus another 3.7 percent in Tuesday trading on the news.

In the three months ended November 30th, the chipmaker said it lost $3.3 million, or 15 cents a share, slightly better than its loss of $.6 million, 20 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding certain one-time items such as stock-based compensation expenses, Standard would have earned 21 cents a share, much better than a 15 cents-per-share slide by still well off of the 34 cents per share analysts in a recent FactSet survey projected the firm would post.

Standard’s total revenue for the September to November period came in at $106.2 million, slightly less than the $107 million it generated a year earlier, and even further below the $107.6 million projected by the FactSet economists. The company also noted that it expects another loss in the fourth quarter, projecting results for the current period of a loss of 13 to 21 cents a share on revenue of $89 to $93 million.

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Finance

Kodak Shares Fall Below 50 Cents On Bankruptcy Rumors

Shares of Eastman Kodak fell 28 percent Wednesday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is preparing to file for bankruptcy. The shares, which were trading at $5.74 last year, have lost well over 90 percent of their value since then, ending Wednesday’s session at just 47 cents a share. The Journal report, citing anonymous sources, came just a day after the New York Stock Exchange warned Kodak its stock could be delisted if a rally doesn’t happen soon. The warning was triggered by the fact that the stock price had traded under $1 per share for thirty consecutive trading days.

Kodak has been exploring strategic alternatives since July, including the sale of more than 1,100 patents related to digital imaging. If Kodak is unable to find a buyer for the patents, for which Kodak is asking $3 billion, the iconic camera maker may have to file for bankruptcy protection to keep from crumbling. Kodak stock last suffered a steep decline in September, when rumors had it declaring bankruptcy, though the stock recovered after the company denied the speculation.

Also in September, Kodak announced that it was tapping a credit line for $160 million, citing operating expenses. The move prompted downgrades of Kodak debt securities by Moody’s and then Fitch, and by the end of the month the company warned bankruptcy could result if a buyer wasn’t found for the patent portfolio.

The difficulty the company has had in selling its patents is puzzling to some analysts, as tech giants have been spending billions of dollars to arm themselves with technology patents. For example, a group led by Apple and Microsoft paid $4.5 billion for a group of patents from bankrupt Canadian telecom Nortel in July. Not to be outdone, search giant Google agreed in August to shell out $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility in August for the sole purpose of acquiring its patents.