Polaroid Falls After Reporting Flat Revenue

Polaroid

(PRD)

developed a 24% increase in profits despite flat revenue and only slightly better gross margins, the company reported Thursday.

For the three months ended June 27, the Cambridge, Mass.-based camera and film maker reported operating profits of $51 million, compared to $41 million in the second quarter of 1999. Net income, which includes taxes, was $26.6 million, or 59 cents per share, compared with $14.8 million, or 33 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

After adjusting for the sale of real estate, the company reported earnings of 45 cents a diluted share, a penny better than the 44 cents analysts surveyed by

First Call/Thomson Financial

had predicted.

Revenue was $487.8 million, compared with $486.8 million in the year-ago period. Gross margins were 46%, compared to 42% in the year-ago quarter.

Polaroid finished Thursday regular trading down 1 9/16, or 8%, at 17 11/16.

The company said it sold 65% more instant cameras and 7% more instant film during the second quarter than in the year-ago period.

"We continue to target high-single to low-double-digit revenue growth behind the strength of our new instant products and the digital products now being launched," said Gary T. DiCamillo, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.