Cerner Guides Under Street Estimates

Shares of Cerner (CERN Quote), a purveyor of technology for storing and managing health-care information, took a dive Friday after the firm guided just under Wall Street targets for the current quarter.

The North Kansas City, Mo.-based company Thursday evening reported making $41.3 million, or 49 cents a share, in the fourth quarter. These results are a slight increase from year-earlier figures of $39.1 million, or 50 cents a share.

Adjusting for a number of beneficial and injurious items -- stock options, special tax effects and a one-time R&D writeoff -- earnings came to $43.3 million, or 52 cents a share. Analysts were looking for 51 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial.

Compared with year-ago adjusted income, which had excluded a big tax benefit only partially offset by stock-option expenses, that number represents a 27.4% surge.

As for revenue from last quarter, however, numbers saw a mere 3.6% lift to $394.5 million, while analysts were looking for $411.7 million.

And, compared with analysts' expectations, the company expects somewhat lackluster results for the first quarter. Adjusted income should range between 43 cents and 44 cents a share, and sales are estimated at $390 million to $400 million.

While both of those ranges would mean substantial year-on-year climbs, they would also come in a notch shy of Street estimates for 45-cent earnings on a top line of $405.3 million.

Shares of Cerner fell $5.37, or 10.3%, to $47.03 Friday.