Trimble Navigation Ltd. (TRMB) Thursday said its profit for the fourth quarter declined 20 percent, absent a tax benefit recorded last year. However, on an adjusted basis, the GPS device maker's earnings for the quarter improved and beat analysts' expectations, as revenues surged 35 percent.
Moving ahead, the company expects its earnings and revenues for the first quarter to trump current market expectations. Following the announcement, shares of Trimble rose over 10 percent in after hours trade.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company's profit for the fourth quarter dropped to $29.4 or $0.23 per share from $36.6 million or $0.29 per share last year.
The recent fourth-quarter results reflects a tax rate of 8 percent while last year's had a tax benefit of 61 percent. Last year's tax benefit was due primarily to a non-recurring income tax benefit for a valuation allowance release of $7.6 million and a catch up on research and development tax credits due to legislation passed in the fourth quarter of 2010, the company said in the statement.
On an adjusted basis, net income for the quarter improved to $67.8 million or $0.54 per share from $57.1 million or $0.46 per share last year. On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.48 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Trimble's revenues for the quarter surged 35 percent to $435.17 million from a year ago, topping analysts estimate of 419.10 million.
Engineering and construction segment revenues were up 30 percent to $238.7 million driven by strong sales of heavy and highway solutions, double-digit growth in survey product sales and the Tekla acquisition.
Field solutions business revenue also rose 28 percent to $95.5 million from a year ago, helped by strong sales of agriculture and geographic information system products and the acquisition of Tekla.
Mobile solutions unit's revenue advanced 88 percent to $75.8 million, due to the PeopleNet acquisition, while advanced devices segment rose 2 percent to $25.2 million.
Looking forward to the first quarter of 2012, the company expects earnings of $0.32 to $0.34 per share, and adjusted earnings of $0.61 to $0.63 per share. Analysts currently expect earnings of $0.58 per share for the first quarter.
For the first quarter, the company expects revenues to be between $477 million and $482 million. Analysts currently expect revenues of $453.14 million for the first quarter.
TRMB closed Thursday's trading at $48.14, up $0.55 or 1.16 percent on a volume of 1.2 million shares. The stock further gained $4.86 or 10.10 percent in after-hours trade.
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