Unisys shares down 24% on 3Q earnings drop

Shares of Unisys Corp. fell by 24 percent today after the information-technology provider reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

The Blue Bell-based company said net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 fell to $28.3 million, or 65 cents a share, compared with $61.1 million, or $1.48 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue declined 13 percent to $961 million, compared with $1.11 billion in the year-ago quarter. Technology revenue declined 31 percent.

Analysts had expected earnings of 86 cents a share on revenue of $1.04 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Lower sales of ClearPath enterprise servers in the quarter hurt gross profit margins, which dropped to 24.7 percent from 26.9 percent a year ago, Unisys said.

"After three straight quarters of strong growth, sales of our ClearPath servers declined, impacting our net income comparisons against a strong third-quarter a year ago," said chairman and chief executive Ed Coleman.

Net income from continuing operations was 50 cents a share, or $21.8 million, compared with $1.27 per share, or $52.4 million, in the year-ago quarter.

Unisys shares were down 23.57 percent, or $7.35, to $23.85 in noon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.