Actuant Tops Q4 Views

Actuant Corporation ATU reported stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal fourth quarter on Wednesday. However, the company issued a weak earnings forecast. The Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based company posted a quarterly profit of $22.1 million, or $0.37 per share, compared to $35.6 million, or $0.51 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, EPS slipped to $0.37 from $0.47. Its revenue declined 15 percent to $300.4 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.29 per share on revenue of $294.2 million. Industrial segment sales slipped 11 percent to $100 million in the quarter, while energy segment sales dropped 18 percent year-over-year to $100.8 million. Engineered solutions segment sales fell 17 percent to $99.5 million. At August 31, 2015, net debt was $419 million. Robert C. Arzbaecher, Chairman, President and CEO of Actuant said, "Fourth quarter sales and operating earnings were in line with our expectations and reflect the continuing impact of the downturn across key end markets including energy, agriculture and general industrial. Our focus remains on tightly managing costs while continuing to fund our best growth initiatives across the businesses." For the current quarter, Actuant projects earnings of $0.20 to $0.25 per share, on revenue of $275 million to $285 million. Analysts expected earnings of $0.30 per share on revenue of $285.91 million. For the full year, Actuant expects earnings of $1.20 to $1.40 per share, and revenue of $1.16 billion to $1.2 billion. Analysts projected earnings of $1.46 per share on revenue of $1.17 billion. Actuant shares gained 3.53 percent to $18.19 at 12:15 p.m. ET.