UPDATE: Lorillard Q3 Profit Declines 8.8%

Lorillard LO reported an 8.8% drop in its third-quarter earnings. Lorillard's quarterly profit declined to $258 million, or $0.69 per share, from $283 million, or $0.72 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, it earned $0.83 per share. Its sales climbed 10% to $1.83 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.81 per share on sales of $1.27 billion. Its gross margin rose to 37.1% from 36.3%. Lorillard shares gained 0.51% to $49.00 in pre-market trading.