Prisons operator Cornell's 4Q profit falls; 2010 outlook is below Street view, shares fall - latimes.com

Prisons operator Cornell's 4Q profit falls; 2010 outlook is below Street view, shares fall - latimes.com
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of prison and treatment services operator Cornell Cos. fell Thursday, a day after it posted a fourth-quarter profit decline of 26 percent on higher operating costs and projected first quarter and 2010 profit well below Wall Street's expectations.

For the last three months of 2009, net income available to stockholders was dropped to $5.4 million, or 36 cents per share, from $7.4 million, or 50 cents per share, a year earlier. The latest results announced Wednesday beat Wall Street's estimate of 35 cents per share, according to a Thomson Reuters poll of analysts.

Cornell said its higher operating costs included expenses to open a new prison in Colorado.

Revenue rose 2.5 percent during the quarter to $104.1 million from $101.5 million. Revenue in the latest quarter fell short of the $106.9 million analysts had expected.

Cornell said for 2009 profit rose 11 percent to $24.6 million, or $1.64 per share, from $22.2 million, or $1.49 per share. Revenue rose almost 7 percent to $412.4 million from $386.7 million.


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