** charts after earnings **
Rent-A-Center Inc. swung to a loss in the third quarter, largely tied to a $34.7 million charge before taxes to adjust the value of its cellphone business.
Plano, Texas-based Rent-A-Center, considered the nation's largest rent-to-own company, entered the smartphone business last year offering cellphone rentals in the U.S. with no credit check, deposit or long-term contract.
On Monday, the company said newer phones had exceeded expectations, but it had failed to clear inventory of older phones.
Shares, down 29% this year, fell 19% on the disappointing results and lowered projections for the current quarter and full year.
Rent-A-Center cut its profit projections for the fourth quarter to between 52 cents and 62 cents a share, down from 63 cents to 72 cents a share. It now projects it will end the year with a profit of $2 to $2.10 a share, compared with its earlier view of $2.05 to $2.20. In 2014, it made $1.95 a share.
Over all, the company reported a loss of $4.1 million, or eight cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $25.9 million, or 49 cents a share. Excluding the write-down and other items, profit fell to 47 cents a share from 50 cents a share.
Revenue rose 3.6% to $791.6 million.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected profit of 45 cents a share on $803.3 million in revenue.
Sales at existing stores rose 5.2% as its Acceptance Now and Mexico segments reported increases of 24.5% and 5%, respectively, while domestic sales fell 0.2%.
No comments:
Post a Comment