Earnings preview: Xerox seen posting tough 4Q Associated Press, 01.21.09, 02:56 PM EST

Xerox Corp. is set to report earnings for the fourth quarter on Friday ahead of the opening bell.

The following is a summary of article over at Forbes.

Xerox announced a large restructuring during the quarter, saying it would cut 3,000 jobs, or 5 percent of its work force, on top of the 1,500 jobs the company already shed in 2008.

Xerox expects the new round of job cuts to save $200 million in 2009.

On average, analysts expect fourth-quarter earnings of 34 cents per share on revenue of $4.72 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. Analysts typically exclude one-time charges from their projections.

Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore sees companies continuing to skimp on IT spending because of economic uncertainty.

"We continue to believe printing and copying are the most discretionary purchases within IT budgets and corporations are likely to continue reducing/delaying equipment purchases," he told investors in a recent client note.

On the other hand, Whitmore said "modest" revenue from the company's "post-sale" business - sales of ink and other equipment to customers who already own Xerox printing and copy machines - should help offset weaker hardware sales.

Post-sale revenue accounts for about three-quarters of overall revenue for Xerox.