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Company nearly doubled analyst expectations

Earnings at Lexington-based printer manufacturer Lexmark passed Wall Street expectations with its fourth quarter and full year earnings.

Although shares of Lexmark tanked from $70 to $28 per share, the stock price began to rally after the company disclosed a substantially better fourth quarter than expected.

The numbers reflect a shift to more business-related purchases taking place, and less business on the consumer side. Lexmark said their 2007 business segment revenue hit $3 billion, a 5 percent rise from 2006. Consumer business fell 12 percent to $1.97 billion.

Though fourth-quarter earnings of $1.04 per share lagged Q4 2006 by a penny, they still surpassed Wall Street expectations of 58 cents per share. Lexmark's key to continued success will require targeting high-usage customers in the small office/home office (SOHO) market, and larger customers for laser multi-function printers.

An inside source lamented one miss by Lexmark management. Recently, H-P acquired Exstream Software, a company in Lexmark's backyard. Exstream's enterprise document automation software, Dialogue, could have been an asset in Lexmark's attempts to further boost its business segment sales.