"We are a company that believe in maintaining a conservative financial posture," says James M. Loree, EVP and CFO of Stanley Works, in a statement. "In light of the extremely poor economic backdrop, it is prudent to continue to take actions to align our cost structure with both the current and potentially worsening business environment in 2009."

Initially, Stanley had predicted earnings per share for continuing operations before Q4 charges to be $0.35 to $0.45 higher than where the company now sees its earnings, somewhere between $3.30 to $3.40 per share. The release from Stanley points to the "rapidly deteriorating business conditions" to its Construction/DIY and Industrial segments over the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter unit volumes are currently projected to be from 12% to 14%, which Stanley notes in their release, is roughly 6% to 8% lower than expected.

Loree in a statement says, "The decline in unit volume that [Stanley has] observed in the first two months of the fourth quarter, following a 7% decline in the third quarter, has been dramatic. Across nearly all of our businesses, with the exception of our Security segment, [Stanley has] seen a sizable negative trend that continues to track the downward movement of the overall economy." He continues to say that the lay-offs and facility closings will "position the company for growth" as the economy improves in the future.