UPDATE: Dentsply International Misses Q4 Views

Dentsply International Inc. XRAY reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. The York, Pennsylvania-based company posted a quarterly profit of $84.7 million, or $0.59 per share, versus $74.4 million, or $0.51 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, the company's earnings dropped to $0.60 per share from $0.61 per share. Its revenue declined 4.6% to $719 million. Net sales, excluding precious metals content, dropped 3% to $691.0 million from $713.7 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.61 per share on revenue of $751.04 million. Bret Wise, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Looking ahead, we remain actively engaged in our global efficiency program to provide another lever for future value creation irrespective of variable market growth conditions. We believe global dental markets remain mixed with modest improvement in the US and continued stable but slow growth rates across most of Europe. Significant currency volatility and current exchange rates represent a sizeable headwind in our 2015 financial outlook. As we execute the next phase of our efficiency program we anticipate offsetting some of this headwind." For the full year, Dentsply projects earnings of $2.50 to $2.60 per share. Dentsply shares slipped 0.17% to close at $52.65 yesterday.