Cendant Sees First-Quarter Profit Down 9%

Cendant Corp., whose businesses range from franchising Coldwell Banker real estate brokerages to direct marketing, said its first-quarter earnings would fall about 9% because of lower income from its diversified services unit and higher interest costs. New York-based Cendant expects to earn 14 cents a share in the first quarter of 2001, down from 22 cents a year earlier, the company said. Cendant, which has said it expects earnings for the first few quarters of next year to be below this year’s levels, provided specifics for the first time. Three of five analysts following the company have held off providing first-quarter earnings estimates as they waited for guidance from Cendant. For this year, Cendant reiterated that it expects to meet analysts’ earnings estimates of 91 cents a share. Cendant’s shares closed off 13 cents at $9.50 on the NYSE.