McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (MHP) reported that its third-quarter net income attributable to the company was $336.11 million or $1.07 per share, compared to $390.17 million or $1.23 per share in the same quarter last year. The last year results included an after-tax restructuring charge of $0.05 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.05 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenues for the quarter was $1.88 billion, down 8.4% from $2.05 billion in the prior year quarter. Four analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $1.94 billion for the quarter.
The company now expects to achieve the top end of its $2.20 - $2.25 earnings per share guidance for 2009. At the end of the second quarter, the company had anticipated coming in at the low end of that range. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $2.24 per share for fiscal 2009.
The company said that new earnings per share guidance excludes the second quarter restructuring charge of $0.03, a $0.03 loss on the divestiture of Vista Research in May and a projected $0.02 gain ($9.3 million pre-tax and $5.9 million after-tax) on the sale of BusinessWeek in the fourth quarter.
For fiscal 2009, the company now expects revenue to decline by about 7%. Earlier, the company had expected a decrease of 5.5% - 6.5%. Four analysts have consensus revenue estimate of $5.96 billion for fiscal 2009.
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