NCR article in this week's Barrons. Here's an excerpt:
biz.yahoo.com
NCR strategy bringing higher earnings -- Barron's
NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - NCR Corp.'s (NYSE:NCR - news) strategy of focusing on its global position in automatic teller machines and retail automation equipment is paying off, with Wall St. starting to notice sharply higher earnings, Barron's reported in its Dec. 7 edition.
NCR Chief Executive Lars Nyberg's turnaround efforts, including his move to dump computer manufacturing, have brought brought a jump in income in the first nine months of this year to $73 million or $0.71 per share, from a year earlier loss of $29 million, or $0.28 per share.
Chief Financial Officer David Bearman expects the company's revenues to rise 2 percent from last year's 5 percent dip, Barron's reported. Beginning next year, a steady climb is expected, with double-digit revenue growth of 11 percent seen for 2001, the report said.
Gross margins this year should reach 30 percent, up from 28.5 percent last year, on the way to a level of 35 percent or higher, the report said.
Successes in boosting return on capital could generate cash which could be used for additional stock repurchases, in addition to a 6.3 million share buyback earlier this year.
Nyberg's strategy, which was not fully implemented before AT&T (NYSE:T - news) spun off the company to its shareholders in late 1996, includes an increasing focus on data warehousing. This involves providing systems used to collect data from ATMs and point-of-sale equipment, which is extremely useful for marketing.
This is the latest trasition for the company, which was started 115 years ago as National Cash Register Co., the maker of the first mechanical cash registers.
First Call's 1999 consensus estimate for NCR is $2.08 per share, meaning the company could double its earnings by next year. |
