Flir Systems Serves Up Bad Guidance; Stock Falls

Flir Systems FLIR provided updated guidance on Monday after the closing bell. The company's outlook was weak, and shares have been driven down 2% to $17.96 in late trading. In the second-quarter, the company sees adjusted EPS of $0.30. This is well below analysts' consensus EPS estimate of $0.36 for the second-quarter. Revenues are expected to be $338 million versus analysts' consensus of $380.39 million. Flir cited weakness in several markets including predictive maintenance and building, cores and components, and recreational marine. Flir also lowered its outlook for fiscal 2012. The company now sees EPS in a range between $1.40 to $1.50 on revenues of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion. This compares to the company's previous guidance of $1.60 to $1.70 on revenues of $1.55 billion to $1.65 billion. Chief Executive Earl Lewis said, "We are disappointed in our second quarter performance. These results caused us to make additional reductions to our cost structure that will be reflected in improved profitability in future periods. Most importantly, we are confident that the second half of 2012 will be significantly better than the first half, and we expect to see a resumption of meaningful earnings growth in the fourth quarter."