Kodak report is ugly

[Bob McCarthy]

By Tiernan Ray

Shares of Eastman Kodak (EK) are down 74 cents, or 16.4%, at $3.78 after reporting Q4 revenue below estimates and turned in earnings per share well below what analysts were expecting.

The stock had already fallen 13% yesterday after disclosing Monday evening that it lost an initial ruling in its patent dispute with Apple (AAPL) and Research in Motion (RIMM).

Kodak said Q4 revenue fell 25%, year over year, to $1.93 billion, missing analysts’ $2.11 billion estimate. EPS of 37 cents was 35 cents lower than expected.

While Kodak’s total digital products revenue of $1.49 billion were down 25%, the company said “core growth businesses” rose 23%. Sales were slowed by the timing of intellectual property license sales, it said, as well as pricing pressure in its “prepress solutions” business. The license timing issues also hit profits, the company said.

CEO Antonio Perez said he was pleased with the performance of the company’s digital growth business, and with the company’s positive cash generation during the year. Still, net cash from operations of $285 million was well down from $822 million a year earlier, which the company attributed to there having been a “significant” intellectual property deal in the 2009 Q4.

Kodak plans to offer a full-year outlook on February 3rd at its analyst day meeting in New York.

[dsphotog]

Think about the lost 8x10/5x7 TMX/TMY2 revenue.

[Henry Ambrose]

Look like their current business plan partly revolves around patent and IP enforcement. A bit sketchy unless you're absolutely sure of your standing - even then it seems a crap shoot.

[Pete Watkins]

For me it's not even feasable to pay the prices demanded for Kodak products. Foma is brilliant for mono and Fuji prices are below Kodaks on colour stuff. I used to love Tri-X but it aint that good pound for pound. They seem to have lost the plot completly.
Pete.

[Bruce Watson]

Ah, Bob: Our little ray of darkness. Thanks for sharing. Sigh...

[domaz]

Kodak needs to find a way to make big sensors (full frame at least) cheaper than the competition. If they can't do that it's hard to imagine a profitable niche for them.

On the positive side prices for used film equipment will probably crater if Kodak gets split up/goes bankrupt whatever...

[dsphotog]

Or, we could all chip in & buy out the analog division.

[Vlad Soare]

For me it's not even feasable to pay the prices demanded for Kodak products. Foma is brilliant for mono

Pete, Foma is great for its price, but I wouldn't quite call it brilliant. The Fomapan 100 is more like ASA 50 if you want decent shadow detail, and its reciprocity characteristics are among the worst of all modern films. Besides, it has a tendency of building up contrast very quickly. The Fomapan 400 hasn't been available in sheets until very recently, so I can't comment on that, but I used it once in 35mm and it seemed very grainy to me even for ASA 400.
They're very good films, I've used them a lot and liked them a lot, but Kodak films play in a totally different league.

[SamReeves]

I've been very pleased with Foma (aka Arista EDU). Price is great, image quality is great, and it's cheaaaap!!!

[Bruce Watson]

For me it's not even feasible to pay the prices demanded for Kodak products.

For me, it's not feasible to risk non-Kodak quality control. Kodak film is the best available, from both image capture and QA perspectives. It's the best bang for my hard won buck.

I find it a bargain even at these elevated prices. And especially when I consider the price of even a short photo trip. All it took to learn that lesson was an emulsion wrinkle in an otherwise excellent capture from a trip that can't be repeated.