Ingram Micro posts Q4 loss

SANTA ANA, Calif: Ingram Micro Inc., the world's largest distributor of computers and electronics, also forecast first-quarter revenue and earnings per share before items that were just under Wall Street expectations.

Ingram Micro has been cutting costs for more than two years and is on track with its profit-boosting plan announced in September, executives said on a conference call. Ingram again reduced its cost of sales in the fourth quarter.

The malaise of the information technology industry continues, said Chief Executive Kent Foster in an interview, even as personal computers are aging and increasingly needed to be replaced. "Things are starting to wear out and we also think the excesses that came about with the dot-com and telecom booms have been worked out," Foster said.

Concerns about a potential U.S. against Iraq also could be weighing on tech spending. "There probably is some impact from worries about potential terrorist attacks and conflict in the Middle East as well as a lot of other things," Foster said.

Santa Ana, California-based Ingram Micro reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $10.3 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with year-earlier net income of $5.7 million, or 4 cents a share. Revenue was $5.89 billion, down 4.1 percent from a year ago but toward the higher end of its October forecast for revenue of $5.75 billion to $5.99 billion.

Excluding $62.7 million, or $39.5 million after taxes, in costs for the program, Ingram said it had a profit of $29.2 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a year-ago profit of $14.4 million, or 10 cents a share.

That was slightly above its forecast for profit before charges of $26 million to $29 million, or 17 cents to 19 cents a share, and the Wall Street consensus of 18 cents a share, as compiled by Thomson First Call.

For the first quarter, Ingram Micro said it expects profit per share before items of 14 cents to 16 cents on revenue of $5.40 billion to $5.55 billion.

On that basis, analysts forecast Ingram Micro to earn 17 cents a share on revenue of $5.55 billion.

Foster also said he was confident Ingram Micro will be generating the $160 million in annualized operating income improvements it had identified by this time next year, in line with the time line it set out when it announced the profit enhancement plan in September.

Ingram Micro also said that soft sales in November were followed by a relatively robust December, noting that the profit improvement before items in the quarter was due to higher gross margin, coupled with tight management of its balance sheet.

Shares of Ingram Micro rose 31 cents, or 4.2 percent, to close at $7.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has fallen 29 percent.

© Reuters