One reason might be to get ahead of something they foresee hurting profits in the next quarter or next year. Not to wait until it shows up in the bottom line.

"like I'm five"

Ok here it is for a 5 year old.

You have a 10 lemonade stands staffed by 10 people. You've had a good year and have made money. But next year you will loose 3 of the stands and so you are going to get rid of three people because they won't be needed even though you made money fine this year.