Eaton Corporation Surges on Earnings, Guidance Remains Static

Eaton Corporation

has started the week strong after comfortably topping first-quarter EPS estimates. The Dublin, Ireland-based firm's EPS declined 8.7 percent year-over-year to $0.84, but beat expectations of $0.79. Revenue jumped 34.1 percent to $5.31 billion and fell short of the $5.43 billion Wall Street consensus.

Eaton's electrical products segment surged 87.4 percent to $1.66 billion during the quarter. Also, the power management firm's electrical systems and services segment soared 78.5 percent to $1.52 billion. The spike in electrical sales as well as overall revenue were due to the company's $13 billion acquisition of global electronics firm Cooper Industries in December of 2012 - the largest acquisition in its history. According to Chairman and CEO Alexander M. Cutler, “Our 34 percent sales growth in the first quarter consisted of a decline of 5 percent in core sales and a 1 percent decline from currency translation, offset by 40 percent growth from acquisitions.”

Eaton's vehicle segment declined around 11 percent to $936 million, marking the only segment to decline during the quarter. Meanwhile, the company's hydraulics segment grew a modest 2.9 percent to $756 million while its aerospace segment remained approximately flat at $434 million.

On February 1, Danaher Corporation

and Eaton completed the sale of Apex Tool Group to Bain Capital. Apex had been owned 50/50 by Danaher and Cooper Industries.

On April 20, Eaton announced it will double the manufacturing capacity at its Jining, China facility to “meet growing customer demand in the region for its valve and valvetrain products and technologies.” The additional capacity is expected to become operational in March of 2014.

Eaton reaffirmed its guidance of $4.05 to $4.45 per share. At the middle-ground of $4.25, it would miss estimates of $4.35.

Despite missing the mark on revenue, Eaton has reached a two-week high on word of its successful earnings. The stock has risen to approximately $60 in the pre-market, its highest point since April 15. Eaton Corporation is up a bit over two percent on Monday.