AbitibiBowater shares fall sharply after 3Q loss

NEW YORK - Shares of AbitibiBowater Inc. fell more than 18 percent Thursday after the world's largest North American newsprint maker reported its third-quarter loss widened on tumbling demand that led to increased facility down time.

The Montreal-based company reported a loss of $302 million, or $5.23 per share, compared with a loss of $142 million, or $4.75 per share, a year ago.

Excluding charges and gains, AbitibiBowater posted a loss of $104 million, or $1.81 per share. Analysts, on average, had expected a loss of $1.80 per share, according to a Thomson Reuters' poll.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Paul C. Quinn said that assets sales have slowed and "quarter over quarter operational improvements decline(d)."

Quinn said he expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization excluding items to be $232 million rather than the $175 million AbitibiBowater actually had.

During a second-quarter conference call, Quinn said the company's managers had "suggested that the quarter-over-quarter improvement (in Ebitda) would total approximately $100 million," rather than the $38 million it actually achieved, he said in a client note.

Shares of AbitibiBowater fell 38 cents, or 18.5 percent, to close at $1.67 Thursday.

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