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VeriFone Holdings Inc. says it will release restated earnings for 2007 and earnings reports for its first two quarters of fiscal 2008 after the stock market closes today at 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. In December, the San Jose, Calif.-based point-of-sale terminal maker announced it would have to restate 2007 earnings after it found accounting errors related to inventory (CardLine, 12/3/07). It also has since delayed release of its 2007 annual report and quarterly filings for the first half of fiscal 2008, which ends Oct. 31. VeriFone scheduled a 5 p.m. EDT conference call with analysts today to discuss the results. The fallout has been extensive. Shares of VeriFone stock, which closed at $48.03 on Nov. 30–the Friday before the restatement announcement–fell to as low as $10.29 on April 28. VeriFone stock was selling at $14.73 per share today in late-morning trading. Earlier in April, VeriFone's board stripped Douglas G. Bergeron of his chairman's title, though he has remained the company's CEO. Some of the restated results could be "fairly messy," suspects Robert J. Dodd, senior analyst at Memphis, Tenn.-based Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. "There will be obviously a lot of expenses to restate," Dodd says. Analysts will focus on VeriFone revenue and gross-margin numbers to predict gross margins for coming quarters. Overall, Dodd says VeriFone is faring well. "Its market position is holding fine, and it has strong market demand," he says.
