Reply #12: American Greetings net tumbles 79%

[UpInArms]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BB485272A%2D718B%2D4703%2DAD73%2D04BF002955DF%7D&symbol=&siteid=mktw

NEW YORK (MarketWatch ) -- American Greetings Corp. said Thursday that third-quarter profit plunged because of continued weakness in its U.K. business and disappointing Christmas shipments of domestic promotional gift wrap.

American Greetings (AM), the nation's largest publicly held greeting cards and gift-wrap company, said net income fell 79% to $12.9 million, or 19 cents a share, from $62.8 million, or 78 cents, a year ago.

Earnings from continuing operations came to 16 cents a share, which was within the company's own recently revised outlook. Excluding a charge for goodwill impairment, earnings from continuing operations would have been 58 cents, matching the average estimate of four analysts polled by Thomson First Call.

On Dec. 8 American Greetings slashed its outlook for earnings from continuing operations to 15 cents to 18 cents a share, down from its prior view for 70 to 75 cents. Analysts at that time were looking for earnings of 71 cents a share.

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