Imation Corp., which makes DVDs, flash drives and other removable storage media, saw fourth-quarter revenue dive by 14 percent but its losses shrank, the company reported Friday.
Oakdale-based Imation revenue fell to $342.3 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, down from $398.4 million the year before.
Most of the revenue loss was concentrated in sales of commodity CDs and DVDs, CEO Mark Lucas said.
The company had a loss of $12.9 million in the fourth quarter, a sharp reduction from the $46.7 million loss it reported for the same period the previous year.
The company made up the revenue declines by selling more higher-margin products, such as its removable hard drives and encryption-protected flash drives.
Lucas, after his first full year as CEO, said the company made “solid progress” on its strategy to emphasize security features as a way to differentiate Imation’s products.
The company missed the $355 million revenue expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
But it beat the losses analysts had predicted. Excluding some one-time costs, the company posted a loss of 14 cents a share, while analysts expected a loss of 34 cents a share on the same basis.
For the full year, Imation had revenue of $1.29 billion, down 12 percent from the previous year.
The company lost $158.5 million in 2010.
Imation’s stock closed Friday at $6.21, down 15 cents.
– Leslie Brooks Suzukamo
