Bear Stearns expects Q1 results significantly lower

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bear Stearns Cos BSC.N, the troubled investment bank being acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), on Thursday said it expects first-quarter results to be "significantly lower" than a year earlier.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Bear said the global liquidity crisis, a "repricing" of credit risk, and weakness in fixed-income, investment banking and asset management operations "created a difficult operating environment."

Bear said it cannot provide a reasonable estimate of operating results for the quarter ended February 29, but expects to file its quarterly report by April 14. The company reported a profit of $553.7 million, or $3.82 per share, in the year-earlier quarter, another SEC filing shows.

JPMorgan agreed last month to acquire Bear in an all-stock transaction then valued at $10 per share. The purchase kept Bear out of bankruptcy after liquidity evaporated. As part of the transaction, JPMorgan agreed to buy 95 million newly issued Bear shares, for a nearly 40 percent stake. That purchase closed this week.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)