Canon and Kodak Financials

Canon and Kodak have announced financial results recently, so we thought you'd give you a quick update on how well they performed in the digital camera marketplace.

Canon

Canon posted a nice 34% increase in profit for the quarter ending in December 2005 when compared to the same quarter of the previous year.  The Digital Rebel XT and EOS 5D were credited with particularly strong sales.  The popularity if the digital SLRs have, of course, increased demand for interchangeable lenses.  Demand for the Powershot SD400 and A520 fueled the first half of the year, with the SD550 and SD450 coming in during the second half.  Overall, digital camera sales increased more than 20% over the previous year.

Strategies for 2006 include:

• Maintain prices with competitive, new products
• Increase sales of digital SLRs, lenses and IXY products
• Increase printer sales

See Canon's Investor Relations web page for more.

Kodak

Kodak continues to recover from the losses in the traditional film camera market.  However, their digital sales hit 54% of total revenue for all of 2005, the first time that digital sales eclipsed traditional film sales for the company.  Revenue increase 12% in the fourth quarter, but the company reported a lost of $52 million. 

Here are a couple great digital imaging financial stats:

• 65% increase in sales of home printing products and inkjet products for the quarter
• 95% increase in sales of Kodak EasyShare Printer Docks
• 41% increase in "digital capture" sales, which includes digital cameras
• 23% increase in sales of Kodak Picturemaker kiosk

Full Article at Kodak.com