Courier Struggles

Courier corporation was the latest printer to forecast lower results. In a statement yesterday, the company said its first quarter profit declined on slow textbook orders and low Creative Homeowner book sales. The company lowered its fiscal year 2008 outlook and as a result the stock price was hammered (but then so were a lot of them). The company reported first quarter net income of $1.4mm versus $4.0mm in the same period last year.

From the press release:

"We were hit by simultaneous challenges on both sides of our business this quarter," said Courier Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James F. Conway III. "In book manufacturing, despite all indications pointing to another full year of strong sales in education, textbook reprint orders were unexpectedly slow this fall, sharply reducing the segment's capacity utilization and profitability even as we continued to gain share. Normally, publishers order textbook reprints during the fall to spread manufacturing workloads throughout the year, but this year a variety of industry factors significantly reduced that order flow. In publishing, Creative Homeowner sales continued to be held back by reduced consumer traffic at home improvement centers, its most important sales channel.

The stock is trading at $26.01 which is a 52week low.