Service Corp. Int'l (SCI), a funeral services provider, Wednesday said its second quarter profit declined from the year ago quarter, hurt primarily by a loss on divestitures and impairment charges, as well as lower gross margin and a decline in revenues. The company raised its earnings forecast for the year 2009.
Houston, Texas-based Service Corp's quarterly net income attributable to common shareholders dropped to $23.1 million or $0.09 per share from $31.4 million or $0.12 per share in the same quarter a year ago.
Earnings from continuing operations for the quarter, excluding special items, dropped to $30.0 million or $0.12 per share from $36.4 million or $0.14 per share in the same quarter last year.
On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected second-quarter earnings of $0.07 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items such as one-time charges or gains.
Operating income for the second quarter dropped to $69.1 million from $83.3 million in the comparable quarter last year as gross margin decreased to 17.9% from 18.8% in the same quarter a year ago.
Quarterly results were negatively impacted by a loss on divestitures and impairment charges of $6.289 million, compared to $3.858 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Quarterly revenues declined to $513.9 million from $548.8 million in same quarter last year,however, was above analysts estimate of $493.73 million. Quarterly revenues were negatively impacted by a decline in funeral revenues as well as cemetery revenues.
For the six-month period, net income attributable to common shareholders dropped to $57.6 million or $0.23 per share from $72.9 million or $31.4 million in the comparable quarter last year.
Revenues for the period decreased to $1.024 billion from $1.122 billion in the corresponding period a year ago.
Looking forward to the fiscal year 2009, the company raised its earnings forecast for continuous operations to a range of $0.36 to $0.42 per share from the previous guidance ranging from $0.26 to $0.36 per share. Wall Street currently expect earnings of $0.32 per share for the quarter.
SCI closed Wednesday's trading at $6.50, up $0.26 or 4.17%, on a volume of 1.894 million shares on the NYSE. In after hours, the stock gained $0.35 or 5.38%, to trade at $6.85
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