ROCHESTER, N.Y. —  Eastman Kodak Co., already slim from retooling for the digital age, said Thursday it is slashing its full-year profit and sales forecast and eliminating more jobs because of the darkening global climate. Its stock fell nearly 6 percent.

The pullback by the photography pioneer overshadowed third-quarter results _ its profit more than doubled as its sales dropped 5 percent. Driven by digital cameras, picture frames and inkjet printers, it earned $96 million, or 33 cents a share, up from $37 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, notably a 31-cent gain from cutting medical coverage for retirees, its profit of 22 cents a share on sales of $2.41 billion fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 28 cents a share and sales of $2.53 billion.

Revenue from digital businesses in the July-September period rose 2 percent to $1.64 billion but traditional film-based revenue slumped 18 percent to $764 million.

Converting the bulk of its 128-year-old business from high-margin film to more competitive electronic technology cost Kodak $3.4 billion from 2004 through 2007. It chopped its work force to 26,900 from 64,000.

"The magnitude of the change in our top-line forecast is evidence of the turmoil in the global economic environment," Chief Executive Antonio Perez said in a conference call with analysts. "We're taking a prudent approach to the fourth quarter because we see little evidence that the global economy will improve in any meaningful way in the short term."

He was not specific about the number of additional planned job cuts.

Kodak now expects 2008 operating profit will range from $200 million to $250 million. In a revised forecast in August, it called for operating profit to come in at the low end of its prior estimated range of $400 million to $500 million.

The shortfall will bring targeted layoffs over the next few months _ depending in part on Kodak's performance in the end-of-year holiday season. "Some businesses will have much better projections for 2009 than others, and that is the way we will make those cuts," Perez said.

Kodak also lowered its outlook for full-year revenue growth, forecasting a decline of 3 percent to 5 percent from 2007 sales of $10.3 billion and digital sales growth of 1 percent to 4 percent. It previously estimated revenue would be flat to up 2 percent, with digital sales up 7 percent to 10 percent.

Shares fell 62 cents, or 5.7 percent, to end at $10.22. The stock is trading near the low end of its 52-week range of $9.36 to $29.08.

After accumulating more than $2 billion in losses over three years, Kodak has posted net profits in six of the last eight quarters. It bought back about 14 million shares of its common stock in the third quarter at a cost of $219 million and has reduced its debt by $294 million this year to $1.3 billion.

"In consumer digital, they seem to be doing all right, although even there, higher costs are affecting them," said Ulysses Yannas, a broker for Buckman, Buckman & Reid in New York. "It has a lot to do with the economy and, from here on out, the (strengthening) dollar _ since 60 percent of its sales are overseas."

Taking a scalpel to the work force once again "doesn't surprise me at all," Yannas said, adding that layoffs will probably be modest. "There are no more thousands to cut! This is part and parcel of the game. As far as I'm concerned, this is all for the good _ continuing to cut costs."

Quarterly sales in consumer digital imaging rose 7 percent to $820 million, propelled by digital cameras and picture frames. The division recorded an operating profit of $23 million, up from $18 million a year ago, despite continued investment in its consumer inkjet printer business.

Graphic communications sales fell 2 percent to $821 million and operating earnings fell from $36 million to $23 million, hurt mainly by a softer commercial printing market in the United States as well as higher raw materials costs than a year ago.

Sales in its film, photofinishing and entertainment unit dropped 18 percent from $928 million to $764 million, largely reflecting slumping sales of film and photofinishing services. Operating earnings fell to $77 million from $113 million, mainly because of lower volume sales and higher silver and aluminum costs.

Through 2011, Kodak has said it expects revenue to rise 5 percent a year, driven by a 10 percent to 12 percent annual rise in digital sales. Operating profit, it forecasts, will more than triple to $1 billion.

___

On the Net:

http://www.kodak.com

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.