Update:

          Monster Worldwide stock dropped more than 20 percent Thursday after the company issued guidance about projected Q1 revenue and earnings that were far below analyst estimates. The stock finished the day in NYSE consolidated trading at 7.15, down 1.83 or 20.83 percent. Trading volume was almost four times the average of 3.2 million shares.

          It was the lowest point for the stock since Nov. 29, when it hit 6.93. One year ago, on Jan. 26, 2011, the stock was trading at 21.33 — so it’s off by almost two-thirds in the last year.

          Current market capitalization for Monster Worldwide, parent of Monster.com and other recruitment sites globally, is $921 million.

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Monster Worldwide stock dropped more than 13 percent this morning after the company announced an increase in earnings but a number of cost-cutting measures, including the layoff of 400 employees — or about 7 percent of its international workforce.

The company projected earnings for the first quarter of 2012 that were less than half of analysts’ estimates. It said revenue would fall 3 to 7 percent during Q1 this year, and bookings (longer-term placements for the future) would fall 6 to 10 percent.

“The progress we saw in the fourth quarter was much slower than what we saw earlier in the year,” Monster CEO Sal Iannuzzi told Reuters in an interview. He said the job market was not likely to change “for the time being,” Reuters reported.

“Our focus in 2012 will be to further leverage our product leadership and global platform, and increase customer adoption.”

Monster Worldwide (NYSE: MWW) said its Q4 net income was $10.9 million, or 9 cents per share, up from just $500,000 or breakeven in during Q1 of 2011. Revenue in Q1 declined to $250 million from $255 million year-over-year. Analysts had projected revenue of $259 million.

“In 2011 our Global Careers bookings increased 18 percent year-over-year despite a more challenging economic environment in the latter half,” Iannuzzi said in the management statement. “We also significantly improved profitability, with an operating margin of 7% in 2011 compared to approximately break-even in 2010, and had $250 million in cash and cash equivalents at year-end.

In addition to the layoff of 400 people worldwide, the company said it would close some offices and carefully manage expenses. It projected annualized savings of $100 million from the layoffs and expense reductions.

The layoffs included “less than 100” people at the U.S. headquarters of Monster.com in Maynard, Mass. The company said it might hire some people back in sales and marketing roles.

The company statement about its layoffs:

           As we have indicated in previous public statements, we are taking some steps to rebalance our investments and reduce fixed operating costs. As such, we are eliminating roughly 400 positions globally, or 7 percent of the workforce. Since 2007, Monster has made tremendous progress in developing and launching new technologies. Moving forward, we will focus on rolling out these innovations globally and growing revenue through an increase in sales and marketing activity consistent with our historical norms. To that end, we plan to add revenue-generating positions opportunistically.”